Still reeling from the Covid fallout and high energy costs, barely a week passes without another pub announcing with regret its closure.
Bucking the trend, off the A40 in Oxfordshire between Burford and Witney, hundreds of punters were queueing outside the Farmer’s Dog for an opening day that would be the envy of publicans across the country.
The proprietor of the Farmer’s Dog is no ordinary landlord – he is sometimes controversial TV presenter turned farmer Jeremy Clarkson and his celebrity status brought hundreds of fans to queue through the 2.5 hectare (6 acre) beer garden with its sweeping views over the Windrush valley.
The pub is a lateral venture for Clarkson, with some produce originating from Diddly Squat farm, the venture at the heart of his Amazon Prime show Clarkson’s Farm, which has been lauded for highlighting the struggles faced by British farmers and the food industry.
Under fortuitous sunshine, Clarkson, 64, burst out of the front door of the Cotswold stone pub at midday on the dot, threw his arms in the air and declared: “We’re open” to cheers, before adding: “Also, we’re not late”.
“Every single thing you’re going to consume in here was grown or reared by British farmers,” he told the crowd. “Apart from the quinine in the tonic, otherwise everything else is British, help yourselves, grab yourself a pint, grab yourself some great food, enjoy yourselves, it’s a nice day and there’s no traffic chaos.”
Clarkson was alluding to fears from some in surrounding villages, such as Asthall, that the pub would attract large numbers of cars, an issue seen at the Diddly Squat farm shop about 10 miles away, near Chadlington.
On Friday, there were no major queues on the surrounding roads, and extra workers had been drafted in to manage the on-site parking as well as an overflow car park in an adjacent field – both of which were filling up before the midday opening. Whether they will remain a permanent feature remains to be seen.
Considering Clarkson had repeatedly promoted the pub opening on Instagram to his 8.5m followers, the crowds were large but the site did not appear overwhelmed.
The former Top Gear presenter said Oxfordshire county council had been “very supportive”. He has had run-ins with local officials in the past, most recently with his plans for a restaurant on Diddly Squat farm, which were rejected.
Asked why he was moving on to this latest venture, he said: “Because I wanted to have that restaurant on the farm last year – we couldn’t – so I thought instead of building a restaurant, let’s go buy a pub and here we are.”
Clarkson said they looked at 40 pubs before choosing the site, formerly known as the Windmill, adding: “There’s no villages to piss off here”.
Inside the pub, customers pass a grand piano with a large stainless steel vintage tractor suspended from the ceiling. The bar serves beer from Clarkson’s brewery, Hawkstone, costing £5.50 to £6.50 a pint.
The food is a traditional pub offer, with £19 mains including gammon steak with bubble and squeak, lancashire hotpot, and steak pie with mash and gravy. The vegetarian option, vegetable and cheddar crumble, costs £15.
Blake Jones, 41, and his girlfriend, Lauren Hanly, 34, were the first in the queue. The cabin crew member and pub manager left at 6am from their homes in Gloucester and arrived about 8am – four hours before the pub was set to open.
“We’ve been to the farms, we’ve done the brewery,” Jones said. “So this was his next little venture that we wanted to come and sort of give our support to.”
Jones and Hanly had been spotting regular faces from the show all morning; Gerald Cooper, a dry stone wall specialist known for his nonsensical ramblings, 26-year-old farmer Kaleb Cooper, and Charlie Ireland, a land agent who advises Clarkson on farm management, sarcastically nicknamed Cheerful Charlie.
Next in line outside the Farmer’s Dog were Jack and Rebecca Dinsdale, a married couple who recently moved to Putney, west London, and their dog, a cocker spaniel-jack russell cross called Zeus. They drove two hours to join the queue.
“I grew up watching Top Gear with my old man and he just speaks the truth, doesn’t he?” said Jack, 23, who serves with the Royal Logistics Corp in the army. “It’s just good that someone’s finally started promoting farming, showing how important it is.”
“He’s hilarious,” added Rebecca, 25, who works in dog day care.
The O’Brien family – David, 41, Emma, 44, Kaylah, 11, and Egan, four – said they had a nightmare journey after getting a puncture on the 225-mile drive from Yarm, a market town in North Yorkshire. They are staying at a campsite near the Diddly Squat farm shop. The puncture near Mansfield added four hours to an already five-and-a-half hour journey.
David, 41, an e-commerce manager, and Emma, 44, a secondary school art teacher, said they all enjoyed the Clarkson’s Farm show but Kaylah was the driving force behind the trip.
“I think Jeremy is just quite funny,” Kaylah said. “I like the farm animals more now, like the sheep.”
After the doors had opened, the Gardners – Matthew, 45, Zoe, 47, Isla, 23, and Jacob, 10 – were enjoying beers, ciders and apple juice inside after driving up from Willand, Devon.
Zoe, an HR director, said Jacob was a big fan of Clarkson’s Farm, which they all enjoyed watching together. “It’s educational,” she said. “We’re all learning something from it.”
It would be cheering for the pub industry to see such a roaring trade in establishments not backed by such a dedicated fanbase. Later in the afternoon, Clarkson quietly appears in the beer garden, dotted with picnic benches, bathed in sunshine.
“There’s Jeremy,” exclaims one punter to his son. And by the time Clarkson has walked from one end of the garden to the merchandise and butcher’s tent at the other, he is thronged by smiling customers, phones in the air.