Cliff Notes – James May lashes out at Jeremy Clarkson
- James May claims his pub, The Royal Oak, is ‘better’ and ‘more relaxed’ than Jeremy Clarkson’s The Farmer’s Dog, despite never having visited Clarkson’s establishment.
- Clarkson has faced significant challenges with profitability at his pub, describing it as a ‘total disaster’ while May acknowledges the difficulties of running a pub amid rising costs.
James May lashes out at Jeremy Clarkson’s rival pub having never visited
James May has lashed out at Jeremy Clarkson’s rival pub, he has insisted his pub is ‘better’ than Jeremy Clarkson’s
The Grand Tour stars have both launched new ventures away from television in recent years, with May’s The Royal Oak opening in 2021, while Clarkson’s The Farmer’s Dog began welcoming customers last year.
Clarkson, 64, has been open about the struggles he’s faced at his Oxfordshire pub, admitting he’s been suffering ‘total disasters’ making profits and facing behind-the-scenes issues.
He’s now been dealt a blow by his former Top Gear co-star, as May revealed his own pub is ‘more relaxed’.
‘Mine’s much better. I think that’s the main difference,’ he insisted.
Clarkson opened the doors to his The Farmer’s Dog pub in August (Picture: Neil Robinson/PA Wire)
May’s The Royal Oak opened in 2021
Speaking to Al Arabiya News host Tom Burges Watson, May continued: ‘I haven’t actually been to Jeremy’s pub. I’ve met a few people who have.
‘It sounds like, well, from what I can gather, he’s gone for a sort of mass throughput model.
‘So he’s got hundreds of people queuing up to have his burger, whereas ours is a little bit more relaxed.’
There’s a healthy rivalry between the two co-stars
The 62-year-old added: ‘It’s a village pub where people come. The food is great, we’ve got a fabulous chef and team of chefs.
‘So mine would feel more like, more like a regular English pub. It’s not old fashioned, it hasn’t got horse brass on the walls or any of that tweed stuff, there’s no Morris dancing. I won’t allow that. It is just a pub.’
May added that he is also finding it ‘extremely difficult’ to run a pub and that even though it is ‘successful’, The Royal Oak has ‘just survived’ amid rising costs.
It has previously been claimed May and Clarkson were ‘in intense competition’ and trying to ‘outdo each other’, while May was said to be banned from Clarkson’s pub.
If we’d hated each other
In an interview with The Telegraph last year, May joked that they were ‘creatively fuelled by a mutual loathing’ although that’s why their ‘dynamic worked’.
Clarkson later responded: ‘We’ve spent more time in each other’s company than our families’ over the last 25 years so I don’t think it would have lasted as long as it did if we’d hated each other as much as James likes to think.’
In recent months
It had also been reported that May’s pub was fractionally cheaper than Clarkson’s, who has faced immense backlash over prices when it was revealed that merch alone could cost up to £60.
In recent months, Clarkson has been open about struggling to make profits at his pub, and facing a series of problems in the run up to Christmas.
Writing in his column in The Times last year, he said: ‘It’s galling to see how much effort is required to make so little money on the farm.
‘It’s worse at the pub. The customers are coming. There’s no problem there. But turning their visits into a profit is nigh-on impossible.’ Which probably explains the constant public bickering between the two, to get some bylines.
He also shared his fears of not making money back after reportedly splurging £1,000,000 on his pub.
Amid backlash over prices for food and merch, he said last year: ‘This place is costing us a fortune. God knows if we’ll ever make our money back.’