Pub excitement Rumours grow over Clarkson eyeing up venue
RUMOURS are swirling that Jeremy Clarkson, the Top Gear, Grand Tour and Clarkson’s Farm star, is eyeing up a Cotswolds pub for purchase, much to the delight of the villagers.
According to council insiders, the 63 year old is reportedly interested in acquiring the Grade II listed Coach & Horses Inn, located near Bourton-onthe-water in the Cotswolds.
Locals have expressed their enthusiasm for the potential move, noting the pub’s proximity to the brewery where Clarkson’s Hawkstone Lager is produced, using barley from his Diddly Squat farm in Oxfordshire.
Tom Carty, 37, manager of the Willow Pub in Bourton-on-the-water, said: “It will be good for the village. He’s a very high profile character.”
He added: “In this area we are always looking for more reasons for tourists to come and if this brings more tourists in this direction that is a good thing.
“From my point of view its more positive than negative.”
Speculation has been rife for months about Clarkson’s interest in the site. Carty said: “There has been rumours for months about that site being purchased by Jeremy Clarkson.”
He added, “I don’t know what’s happened but it looks like he’s back on the hunt for it.
“The pub would suit him really well; it’s opposite his brewery so why wouldn’t you want a site like that?”.
The Coach and Horses, which sits on a main road, was previously an Indian Restaurant popular with locals. Slav Wiswieski, 41, assistant manager of the Willow Pub and Bourton-on-the-water resident, said. “It used to be open until late, and they used to do a British Sunday carvery even though it was Indian. I knew the people who ran it, they were very friendly and polite.”
He fondly recalled, “There would always be something extra if you ordered anything.
“Great customer service and the food would be absolutely delicious there as well.”
Wiswieski said:: “I reckon Jeremy Clarkson buying the pub would bring much more to the village because of the name, obviously.”
He praised Clarkson’s existing ventures, saying, “He already has this teepee close by and that one is absolutely brilliant as well and when it is nice weather people sit outside with live music and food trucks. He’s running a good business and there’s massive opportunity there.”
However, some residents have expressed concern at the number of tourists the new pub could attract, and whether there would be enough room for them to park.
“I suppose the only concern you would think is obviously the car aspect - he would just have to do it right,” said Rachel Heath, 52, director of Cotswold China and Cookware, from Chipping Norton.
“I suppose he’s got carparking across the road at the brewery so if the small carpark filled he could re-route people over the road - it’s not that far away.
“I think it’s great and I think it will be good for the area and great for his brewery, but it is only a small carpark at that pub and I think he personally would attract a lot of people so he would have to make sure carparking is sorted, but he probably can sort it as [the carpark] is over the road [from the pub].”
Younger residents of Bourton are also excited at the prospect of the pub re-opening. Izzy Jordan, 22, a bartender at the Old Manse who lives in Bourton said everyone used to go to the Coach and Horses because it would stay open the latest.
“It’s been closed since September,” she said. “You could go out later there and it would be good for young people.
“The latest pub at the moment is open until 11pm so it’s not good for young people around here really. It would be nice to have somewhere to go other than just going home.
“I used to go there with my boyfriend for dinner. It was really nice with really good food.”
Grace Moeller, 22, who works with Izzy, added: “If it opened up again, it would be really good and we would definitely go again. Everyone would get out for live music - that would be really good.
“Music nights would be good. I don’t think there would be many complaints because it’s quite far away.”
Ashleigh Rainbow, 21, who works as bar staff at the Duke of Wellington pub and lives in Bourton agrees.
“I do enjoy going on local pub crawls around here, and I heard the brewery is doing really well so I probably would visit his pub,” she said.
“I think people would enjoy somewhere else to go because we’re all quite used to these pubs at the moment.”
The pub would suit him really well; it’s opposite his brewery so why wouldn’t you want a site like that? Tom Carty