Not content with throwing himself into the incredibly challenging world of farming, Jeremy Clarkson has branched out into the pub trade. While their challenges are pretty different, running a pub is no easy business.
The Farmer’s Dog, opened a 20-minute drive from Diddly Squat Farm, has been unsurprisingly successful.
It focuses on selling British-produced food and drink wherever it can – quinine has proven a sticking point for its essential G&Ts – and you can look forward to seeing the story behind it in the upcoming season of Clarkson’s Farm.
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You can even go and visit the pub for yourself, of course, unless you’re the current UK Prime Minister.
According to the former Top Gear presenter, Sir Keir Starmer is not welcome at The Farmer’s Dog, and it seems he was barred from day one.
Located off the A40 at Asthall in the Cotswolds, it opened on August 23rd 2024 and was immediately met with long queues. Some visitors claimed they’d arrived at 8am in a bid to secure a table.
When asked about the Labour Party’s understanding of rural issues, Clarkson told Times Radio presenter Cathy Newman in August 2024: "He’s banned. Actually, he’s the first person to be banned.”
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"He’s actually on a board in the hall, he’s banned."
He called the Labour government a “hopeless bunch” and added: "I don’t think any of them have set foot outside Kentish Town for the last 35 years."
Newman pressed him on Starmer’s pub ban at the time, to which he replied: "Erm... hello? I thought you were running a news operation.
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"He hasn't done much to endear himself to me yet. We'll have a look at farming. It might turn around, you never know."
Seeing as he was spotted protesting the new farm inheritance tax in central London, it’s fair to assume his opinion on the Labour government has failed to improve.
David Cameron, on the other hand, is more than welcome. As a neighbour of Diddly Squat Farm, the former PM has become friends with Clarkson to the point that the presenter has lent him a tractor.
"David Cameron broke my tractor the other day," Clarkson said on the Performance People podcast.
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"He just borrowed it to go and mow his paddock and then...", Clarkson said, at which point fellow Diddly Squat farmer Kaleb Cooper interjected with: "Never lend a tractor to an MP."
Kaleb said: "It's ploughed fields all day for the last you know, 60 years. And then all of a sudden David Cameron jumps on it and 'bang'."
Clarkson added: "I honestly thought he'd been hit by a heat-seeking missile. There was so much smoke. Unbelievable amount of smoke."
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Cameron isn’t the only Tory leader to get an invite to The Farmer’s Dog, with Leader of the Opposition Kemi Badenoch making a visit in December 2024.
“They discussed the general challenges facing farmers – tax, regulation and Labour's family,” a source told the Telegraph.
“They discussed how you make farming attractive to the next generation so that UK farming can prosper in the future.”
Recently it was also revealed that The Prince of Wales will appear on an episode of Clarkson’s Farm.
Kerri-Ann Roper