Jeremy Clarkson shares major update on Diddly Squat farm shop – days after revealing pub is a ‘total disaster’
JEREMY Clarkson has shared a significant update on Diddly Squat farm shop – days after revealing that his pub is a ‘total disaster’.
The Diddly Squat farm and shop in Chadlington, near Chipping Norton in Oxfordshire, opened in 2020 after the Amazon show Clarkson’s Farm propelled it to fame.
But according to the shop’s website, it closed two days ago and will not reopen until March, meaning it is shut for over two months.
While reasons for the closure haven’t been revealed, punters will not get “diddly squat” when it comes to their award-winning produce, as the pop-up shop at The Farmer’s Dog pub is still open three days a week.
The Farmers Dog, in Asthall, near Burford in Oxfordshire, opened this August and has been hugely popular.
But despite the queues out the door and famous faces dropping by, including The Corrs playing a set, Jeremy has revealed that being a pub landlord is not all it’s cracked up to be.
In a recent column for The Times, he said: “Behind the scenes, then, everything is a total disaster. But the fact is that when you go there you just wouldn’t know.”
Jeremy detailed a number of unexpected issues he and the team had come across lately, including a customer having a serious bout of diarrhoea in one of the loos which required ” a whole team of chemically trained hazmat engineers” to sort it out.
However, the 64-year-old former Top Gear presenter has previously voiced his concerns that the farm would struggle to recoup its £1 million investment.
It has already been forced to close due to Storm Darragh and just last week the TV star said he was naive and “experienced a total disaster and he was burning through cash” ahead of Christmas.
He added that numerous petty thefts were eating into profit, saying: “People seem to have it in their heads that if they come in for a pint they are entitled to go home with the glass in which it was served.
“Last Sunday 104 went missing. And that cost must be added to the £100 a day we spend on fuel for the generator, the £400 a week it costs to provide warmth on the terrace and the £27,000 a month we must spend on parking and traffic marshals to keep the council off our back.”
He continued: “It’s galling to see how much effort is required to make so little money on the farm. 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.”
Jeremy, who also writes for The Sun, had a major health scare in October.
The star had to have heart surgery and has since overhauled his diet and lifestyle.