Jeremy Clarkson has suffered a big blow to his finances after opening his new pub.
The former Top Gear presenter, 64, has been raking in the money after breaking free from the city life to run his Diddly Squat farm. The resulting show of Clarkson’s Farm has broken records on Amazon Prime and catapulted the host into more levels of fame and fortune.
Perhaps hoping his next business venture would also lead to a goldmine, Jeremy announced he would be opening a pub to capitalise on the success of his farm. Fans were thrilled at the prospect of another business for Jeremy, who had hailed there would be only British ingredients used in its meals.
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However, just weeks after opening the pub – aptly titled The Farmer’s Dog – Jeremy has admitted that he has blown a huge hole in his finances with the project. He went on to say that because of the lack of footfall to the pub, costs are taking a huge bite out of his pocket because he is only using British produce.
In fact, it’s so bad, he has said: “It’s possible that for every customer who comes through the door I’d lose about £10.”
(Image: PA)
Fans were initially thrilled to see Jeremy take on another project, especially with the assurance of British-only ingredients. But many fans’ joy soon turned to horror when they saw how expensive his pub grub was, taking to social media to vent their frustrations.
Responding to the criticism, Jeremy has resorted to changing the prices of his meals, but even after reducing the costs, he is still losing money. Opening up to punters, he begged customers to “be kind” when receiving their bill, adding that running a pub was a lot more expensive than he initially thought.
Penning his thoughts in his column in The Times, the host-turned-farmer said: “I do ask – if you drop by, to remember this. Your lunch, if it arrives at all, is costing us a lot more than it’s costing you – so please be kind.”
(Image: PA)
Explaining how his costs worked out, Jeremy admitted he turned to artificial intelligence to decide the prices. He also confessed that he was willing to take a hit to his profits just to have an all-British menu, adding that a business-minded person would have hiked prices further.
Opening up on how his costing strategy worked, Jeremy said that buying British was incredibly expensive, compared to buying products from abroad. According to the star, black pepper was setting the business back £10 per kilo if imported, whilst British equivalents were costing more than 10 times more.
(Image: PA)
As a result, Jeremy confessed that his idea of being fully British was sadly not going to happen, despite trying his “absolute hardest”. The food remained British, whilst the drinks posed the biggest problem – using tonic water as an example.
“You can’t have a pub that doesn’t offer a gin and tonic,” he said. “But there is quinine in tonic water, and you can’t grow that in Britain.”
He continued: “Sure, I could have served gin and water instead, but I didn’t think you’d enjoy it very much. Especially as, instead of a slice of lemon, you’d have been given a slice of turnip, or some potato peelings.”
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
