Jeremy Clarkson's Hawkstone Lager teases 'big order' for PM
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The West Oxfordshire District Council rejected Jeremy Clarkson’s bid to open a restaurant near his Diddly Squat farm, despite receiving the backing from his neighbours and fellow farmers. And the TV presenter is not happy with the decision, having taken to Twitter on Friday to share an article from The Guardian, claiming that local farmers are just as furious about the decision.
Farmers maintain it, farmers look after the woodlands, the hedges, the streams
Jeremy Clarkon
Posting to his 7.6 million followers, he wrote: “A fine piece.”
Local food producers, in particular, have shown their support for Jeremy after branding the ruling as “shortsighted” and “absurd”.
The publication revealed that The Sunday Times columnist’s application was denied because opening a restaurant on the site would be out of character in the Cotswolds area.
Jeremy shared his plans for a farm expansion back in September, having asserted that British farmers were being treated unfairly following the government’s post-Brexit deal with Australia.
He says the trade flooded the market and left farmers no chance to compete.
Farmers would ultimately make the best profit if they were to sell their produce directly to restaurants, which initially sparked Jeremy’s interest in opening up his own eatery.
The Clarkson’s Farm star was eager to get the ball moving after deciding he would transform his lambing shed near the village of Chadlington into a restaurant where he’d serve fresh food farmed at the Diddly Squat ranch.
The announcement was welcomed with heaps of praise from locals who fully supported Jeremy’s scheme, as the latter insisted the idea had gone down “like a shower of sick” with curious villagers.
But on January 10, a decision was made to object to his application, which has since fermented quite the backlash.
“Farmers maintain it, farmers look after the woodlands, the hedges, the streams,” Jeremy argued to ITV Meridian last week.
“They keep it beautiful. The farmers are not going to be able to do that for much longer because of the parlous state of their finances.
“We have been told as farmers to diversify and that is exactly what this proposal is; it’s a diversification of a farming business.”
But on everyone was on board with Jeremy’s idea to open up a restaurant near his farm.
Though the former Top Gear presenter’s comments were met with plenty of support, neighbour Harnish Dewar is quoted by The Guardian saying he was fearful of the Doncaster-born journalist turning the area into a “Jeremy Clarkson theme park”.
Another local named Max Abbott begged to differ, saying he was fond of Jeremy’s proposal and would have supplied bread to the restaurant had the application been approved.
“There’s a huge drive to allow farms to diversify, to attract, more money and break down the gap between farm and plate,” he told the paper.
“Jeremy is employing people, bringing in money. He’s not everyone’s cup of tea but what the council is doing seems absurd.”
Fellow farmer Emma and Pete Ledbury also weighed in on the situation, saying they were looking to help out by providing their own supply for Jeremy’s business, such as cream and butter.
The pair said there had been a drastic drop in profit after bovine tuberculosis ripped through their cattle, with numbers dropping from 100 to 60 in a short number of years.
On top of that, Emma and Pete claimed they were now earning 28p per litre for their dairy products even though it was costing them 32p per litre to produce it.
“We know that we have to diversify to make a living and create more jobs for the countryside,” Pete continued.
“Turning down projects like this doesn’t help. I think it’s pretty shortsighted of the planners.”
Jeremy is currently filming the second series of his Amazon Prime show Clarkson’s Farm.
The streaming giant has yet to announce an official release date for the show’s upcoming run.
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