Jeremy Clarkson has disclosed that his financial stability at his new pub, The Farmer's Dog, relies heavily on selling his own Hawkstone beer and cider. The former Top Gear presenter acquired the establishment, previously known as The Windmill, for less than £1 million in Asthall, near Burford in Oxfordshire, and opened it last summer following the success of his Diddly Squat farm and the associated farm shop featured in his Amazon series, Clarkson’s Farm.

In a recent Instagram post, Clarkson expressed his concerns regarding profitability at the pub, mentioning that his own brewery, Hawkstone, is what is keeping him from financial disaster. "Welcome to The Farmer’s Dog, it’s a pub I’ve had for about six months now, and I’ve worked out it is a brilliant way of turning £100 into about £94 using nothing but costings,” he said.

The pricing strategy at The Farmer's Dog has come under scrutiny, with main dishes priced between £15 and £19, and pints costing £5.50. Despite these prices, Clarkson noted that there has been a steady flow of customers. However, he admitted that converting these visits into profit is a significant challenge. “It is galling to see how much effort is required to make so little money on the farm,” he stated in a column for The Times. "It’s worse at the pub. The customers are coming. There’s no problem there. But turning their visits into a profit is nigh-on impossible."

In an effort to increase sales, Clarkson has offered other pub landlords the opportunity to sample his product by giving away 1,000 free kegs of Hawkstone lager and cider. “If you’ve got a pub and if you want to see if this strategy works for you as well, get in touch with us at our website, and if we like the sound of your pub, if it is the kind of place we want to be in, we’ll send you a free keg,” he said, promising 88 pints of each beverage at no charge.

Clarkson's foray into the hospitality industry follows his experience with Diddly Squat farm, which he took over in 2019. Despite warnings about the challenges facing pubs in the UK, including rising closures, difficulty in staffing, and the logistics of operating a British food menu, Clarkson was optimistic at first. However, as he delved deeper into the realities of running a pub, he acknowledged that it involved hiring a complete kitchen staff and dealing with unforeseen accidents.

This latest venture has not been without its stressors, with Clarkson describing the experience of becoming a pub landlord as “terribly stressful” and fraught with various unexpected inconveniences.

Source: Noah Wire Services