Taking a cue from Luke Littler’s triumph in the World Darts Championships, Clarkson’s Farm celebrity Jeremy Clarkson has rolled out a fresh feature in his Oxfordshire pub. The beloved local now sports an upstairs dartboard for patrons to enjoy alongside the existing pool table.
A spokesperson for the pub enthused: “A new dartboard awaits, as does a cold pint of Hawkstone and a sausage roll.”
Seventeen year old darts whizzkid Luke clinched a historic victory over Michael van Gerwen at Alexandra Palace on January 3. Battling it out, he impressively overcame his opponent with a score of 7-3, etching his name in history as the youngest player to ever hoist the Sid Waddell Trophy aloft.
The Who Wants to Be a Millionaire presenter swung open the doors to his buzzing new pub on August 23, as enthusiastic customers lined up for hours to immerse themselves in the convivial ambience and savour the offerings, reports the Express.
Luke Littler beat Michael van Gerwen of the Netherlands to win the World DartsChampionships
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Clarkson pledged a commitment to British fare, shunning ubiquitous products like ketchup and Coca-Cola. Yet, he soon recognized the hefty price of patriotism, sharing in his column for The Times: “Imported black pepper is about £10 a kilogram, whereas the home-grown alternative is ten times more.”
He elaborated on the economic strain, stating: “There are other issues too. If I butcher one of my own pigs and turn it into sausages, each one of those sausages will arrive at the pub costing 74p. If I buy imported pig meat then the cost of a sausage is 18p. It was the same story everywhere.”
Jeremy, a proprietor with more enthusiasm than business acumen, admitted the challenges of running his pub: “Now a business-minded person would look at these costs and realise that with British-only rules in place a hotdog was going to be priced at about £45. But I’m not a business-minded person. So I just filled my heart with hope.”
Despite getting off to a promising start, the pub has been hit with several losses in recent weeks after light-fingered punters kept stealing the beer glasses
(Image: PA)
He confided that this stance is costing him approximately £10 for each patron. Additionally, he has contended with logistical woes, such as an inadequate electric system: “We don’t ever bother thinking about it [electricity]. Until you turn everything on in your new pub and the giant extractor fan above the ovens shuts down, which, for safety reasons, causes the gas supply to go off as well. This made cooking tricky. ‘No, not tricky,’ said the chef we’d hired. ‘It’s impossible.'”
The issue required a costly solution – installing a three-phase system set Jeremy back by an eye-watering £350,000.
Precarious electricity, an eccentric menu, and plague-ridden water, which also impacted a neighbouring farm, were among the multiple crises Jeremy faced before opening. Despite these setbacks, the pub began operations on time, but not without turning into a financial black hole, with guests frequently absconding with beer glasses, lightbulbs, and even urinal traps.