Jeremy Clarkson recently bought a pub near his farm in Oxfordshire. The pub is currently called The Windmill but he's going to rename it the Clarkson Arms, fair enough.
A lot of the articles focus on how the pub industry has been struggling in the UK. It's clear also that the new series of Clarkson's Farm is going to be marketed along the theme that Clarkson is crazy for taking on the pub as 'people don't go to pubs anymore'.
For example this Express article tells us early on that 'the number of UK hostelries has dropped by 25% since the turn of the century'.
The article is also keen to remind us that the last few years have been particular bad.
The pandemic, rising prices and high energy costs have killed off many pubs. Interestingly, chronic staff shortages have also forced many pubs to reduce their opening hours.
Don't believe the hype!
I don't think any of this is going to apply to Clarkson. For a start pubs in Oxfordshire have bucked the national trend. There is considerable regional variation in pub closures, and the situation is basically fine in most of the middle of England!
Looked at by pubs per head of population, the numbers actually increased between 2014 and 2020 in much of the country. OK there is a recent downtrend, but this Oxford news article strongly suggests Oxfordshire pubs haven't closed in droves since the Pandemic, up until 2022.
A unique case....
I'm sure the pub renovation aspect of The Farm will be entertaining and insightful, and when up and running it will highlight how tough it is running a pub.
However this won't be the case with Clarkson. The entire renovation costs and running costs for years into the future will be covered by his personal royalties from The Farm, which must be several millions per year. All tax free, of course, because it's part of the expenses for the show.
NB I'm sure this is a big pull for Clarkson... he's doing what he wants, running a pub, and he gets to pay no tax on any of it, probably, because it's all part of the TV series. Or at least I'm sure there's some tax loop hole being exploited, I mean this is Amazon, right?!?
And then in terms of demand, people will come just because it's his pub, and he won't have any staffing issues. Plenty of people will see an opportunity here to be the next Caleb.
And there is also evidence of a pub renaissance more widely. Several groups have embraced innovated ideas to pull in new punters. Stonegate Group who owns the Slug and Lettuce recently introduced dynamic pricing...
And Clarkson is well placed to INNOVATE!
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