Jeremy Clarkson has revealed he has ‘accidentally’ opened his new pub weeks before it was meant to, giving us a sneak peek at what life inside the venue is like.
Coinciding with England’s heartbreaking quest for silverware in the Euro 2024 final against Spain, the former Top Gear man seemingly opened his doors to the public for the big game being held in Berlin on Sunday night (14 July).
With England flags adorned across the pub walls and first floor balconies, the party feeling was in full flow despite the agonising result for Gareth Southgate and his team.
In a column for The Sunday Times, Jezza revealed he has bought a pub for just under £1 million, slap bang in the heart of the Cotswolds.
Roughly 20 minutes away by car from Diddly Squat Farm, Clarkson’s latest venture is expected to become the latest to be bombarded by tourists visiting the area as the Clarkson’s Farm hype shows no signs of slowing down.
The pub in question is The Windmill in Asthall, just outside the town of Burford, which Jezza said ‘everyone advised him against buying’.
And while a stunning venue, Clarkson has been left rather wide-eyed at some of what he’s found after finding out it used to be a dogging site.
Jeremy inspecting the good stuff (Instagram / @Hawkstone)
In the video showing off the pub’s early opening, Clarkson can be seen pouring pints of his famous Hawkstone Lager from behind the bar while a raucous crowd enjoys a few drinks and the football.
Posting on the official Hawkstone Instagram account, Jeremy is asked: “What’s going on here?”
“Well, we’ve accidentally opened our pub before it is kind of finished,” Clarkson humorously responds.
After it ‘wasn’t supposed to be opened for four or five weeks’, Clarkson skirts around the opening date in question, saying: “It’s going to be very many weeks before we’ve got it open… but by mistake we’ve got very many people in here.”
“By mistake,” the man behind the camera adds with a somewhat witty tone.
Jeremy ‘accidentally’ opened the pub early (Instagram / @Hawkstone)
It isn’t clear if the venue was open to the public or if it was a private event.
But as far as going by the book (and keeping West Oxfordshire District Council happy) is concerned, the licence for the pub was transferred to a company called Baobab Operations Limited, which according to Companies House is run by two business partners of Clarkson himself – Mark Devereux and Jonathan Hornby. The licence for the pub was officially transferred to them in June, according to council documents.
Fans were buzzing to catch a first glimpse of the pub under Clarkson’s ownership. One wrote: “A MAN OF THE PEOPLE FOR THE PEOPLE.”
Another was predicting how busy it was going to get once open, writing: “You are going to need to build a bigger pub when this opens, they’ll (we) will be travelling from all over to drink and eat here.”
And a third added: “Surely not another ‘un-staged’ incident involving planning/licensing law breaches?! Who’d have thunk it?!”