Villagers’ thumbs-up to Clarkson the publican
WEST villagers said they’d be thrilled if Jeremy Clarkson bought their local pub amid rumours the former Top Gear presenter is planning a purchase.
Council insiders have reportedly said the 63-year-old is interested in buying the Grade II listed Coach & Horses Inn, near Bourton-on-theWater, Gloucestershire.
Yesterday locals said he would be welcome to move into the pub which is near the brewery where Clarkson’s Hawkstone Lager is produced.
It uses barley grown on the presenter’s Diddly Squat farm in Oxfordshire.
Tom Carty, 37, who is manager of the Willow Pub in Bourton-on-theWater, said: “It will be good for the village. He’s a very high-profile character.
“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 it’s more positive than negative.
“There have been rumours for months about that site being purchased by Jeremy Clarkson.
“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 pub, named the Coach & Horses, sits on a main road and used to be an Indian Restaurant, which was popular with locals.
Slav Wiswieski, 41, the assistant manager of the Willow Pub and who lives in Bourton, said it used to be the “best Indian restaurant in the village” before it shut last year.
“It used to be open until late, and they used to do a British Sunday carvery even though it was Indian,” he said.
“I knew the people who ran it. They were very friendly and polite.”
He said that he hopes Clarkson buys the pub and added: “I reckon
Jeremy Clarkson buying the pub would bring much more to the village because of the name, obviously.”
But some residents have expressed concern at the number of tourists the new pub might 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 car parking across the road at the brewery so if the small car park filled he could reroute 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 car park at that pub and I think he personally would attract a lot of people so he would have to make sure car parking is sorted.”
Younger residents 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 & 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.”
Grace Moeller, 22, who works with Izzy, added: “If it opened up again, it would be really good and we would definitely go again.”
Hawkstone Brewery has not responded to previous requests for comment that Clarkson was considering buying the pub.