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Hundreds of people spent Friday mornings queuing to be the first to enter Jeremy Clarkson's new pub, The Farmer's Dog.
The former Upper gear The presenter paid less than £1m for the pub, formerly known as The Windmill, in Asthall, near Burford in Oxfordshire.
The popular reception echoes the success of Clarkson's Diddly Squat farm shop, which draws tourists from around the country due to its prominence in her Amazon series. Clarkson's Farm.
Customers had been queuing outside the newly opened pub since 8am today (August 23), until Clarkson opened the doors at midday and welcomed them inside. Lauren Hanly and Blake Jones, a couple from Gloucestershire, were the first to arrive and waited in line for four hours.
Friendly faces from Clarkson's Amazon series Kaleb Cooper, Gerald Cooper and Charlie Ireland were also there to welcome fans inside.
When asked by reporters why he wanted to open a pub, he said it was the next best thing after failing to open a restaurant on his farm.
“We wanted to have that restaurant on the farm last year and we couldn't, and the pubs are all for sale.
“So we thought that instead of building a restaurant we would buy a pub.”
Clarkson has faced backlash from West Oxfordshire residents over the years when he has tried to expand his Diddly Squat farm project.
Some residents were concerned that the pub's existence could cause local traffic problems due to its location next to the busy A40. However, Oxfordshire County Council has said it has been working closely with Clarkson and his team to reduce the likelihood of traffic problems ahead of the opening.
But the presenter called the whole process of becoming a pub landlord “terribly stressful” and said there were many drawbacks that “you don't think about”.
Clarkson explained that he and his team experienced their first run-in with an upset customer at the soft opening on Wednesday when someone “broke through the bathroom door.”
“When you go to a festival and you go into the bathrooms, you think, 'Is your bathroom at home like this? How can you break down a bathroom door?'” he said.
Clarkson said she had tried the ham, parsley sauce and bubble n squeak from the menu.
“The menu changes, what we have is what we have. There's no Coca-Cola, no coffee, other pubs serve coffee, Cornish tea. We do British food.
Clarkson said he looked at 40 pubs in the decision-making process but opted for The Windmill because it was in a quiet area and had a large visitor car park.
“We looked at 40 pubs. We needed some very special things, like a big car park, a big car park and plenty of parking space, and no small roads to get to.
“There are no villagers to bother here. There is no one to bother. It's a good place.”
He also admitted that doubling the business's profitability would be thanks to the cost of overheads.
“I’m not very good at business plans and I haven’t done one,” he said. “What I do know is that if I take one of our pigs and we kill it, cut it up and make it into sausages and sell it here, it costs us 74p. If I buy imported pork, it’s 18p. So there’s something wrong with the food system in this country.”
Clarkson described the impact of his new pub on British farming as a “small pinprick” but added: “If everyone does it, if all the farmers get together and buy a pub – like you can get a pub these days with chicken feed – it could work.
“If this works, it's a farmers' cooperative that we've formed, it might work, it might not, I'm the pioneer.
“At least Amazon pays me to find out…”
Clarkson's Farm This show is often praised for highlighting the issues facing the agricultural sector, as the TV star and his farming team learn about financial and environmental challenges as they go.
“I got into farming and found out it's really hard,” Clarkson said. “I'm not saving farming, I'm just reporting on it. I've been doing it for five years and it's really hard.”
With additional reporting from PA.
