Clarkson was offered £1m for pub ‘within minutes’ of meeting landlady

TV presenter, media personality and brewer Jeremy Clarkson offered £1million for a pub within minutes of meeting the landlady, according to reports.

Realising the pub’s incredible potential to sell its Hawkstone beers and prepare a new television series, The Grand Tour and old Top speed The presenter offered landlady Jackie Walker £1million for the pub as soon as it walked through the door – even though it wasn’t yet on the market.

The windmill, located in the Windrush Valley and just 10 miles from Clarkson’s infamous Diddly Squat farm, was seen by Clarkson as the ideal location for his next business venture.

Walker, who has owned the pub since 1983 and ran it with her late husband, was shocked by Clarkson’s interest.

But the deal made sense because the pub’s full ownership is not tied to a brewery, meaning Clarkson can use it as a vehicle for his Hawkstone beer brand, as well as to sell products from his Diddly Squat estate.

Walker told the Daily Mail that a film crew entered the pub and Clarkson came in and “asked me if I was interested in selling”, he then made a massive offer, which she accepted immediately.

Laughing

She said: “It made me laugh, but it’s Jeremy Clarkson.”

Although she had no plans to sell the pub, which was once a soup kitchen run by the Mitford sisters during the Second World War and is also popular with airmen and airwomen from nearby RAF Brize Norton, she said she was “not getting any younger”.

Walker said she had discussed the terms of the pub with Clarkson and his partner before signing the deal, saying she hoped they would “make a great success of the place” and “restore it to the way it was”.

Restoration

In recent years, after Walker’s husband died, tenants have operated the place and, in Clarkson’s case, On Sunday In a column he stopped short of criticising the state of the pub, saying the terrace was unsafe, the water was not fit for human consumption and the toilets were “illegal”.

Work on the pub has already begun and the entire project is being filmed by the production company working with Clarkson for Amazon Prime.

Clarkson’s idea is to run a “clubhouse” where farmers will get a free pint and only British food will be served, much of it from Diddly Squat. Hawkstone beers will of course also be served.

Clarkson is reportedly planning to reopen the pub later this year.

Related Articles

Comment: Jeremy Clarkson buying a pub would be good news