Jeremy Clarkson seeks 'wise old soul' to run Diddly Squat restaurant

Now Jeremy Clarkson risks more wrath from his neighbours as he seeks ‘wise old soul who knows their onions’ to run 60-seater restaurant at Diddly Squat farm

  • Jeremy Clarkson said he values a person of experience to run his new restaurant
  • TV star wrote: ‘There’s a vast and experienced pool of talent going to waste’
  • Has applied for planning permission to develop 1,000-acre Chadlington estate
  • New restaurant will undercut local gastro pubs with cheaper, hearty meals
  • Earlier this month he held residents meeting over his Diddly Squat Farm Shop
  • Amazon Prime show has led to hundreds descending on Cotswolds village 

Jeremy Clarkson is seeking out a ‘wise old soul’ to run his new 60-seat restaurant at Diddly Squat farm in Oxfordshire.

The 61-year-old Grand Tour host, who owns the 1,000-acre site in the Cotswolds, said he valued a person of years and experience to head up the new establishment, which will sell his own beef and produce.

In recent weeks, Clarkson said he intends to undercut local gastro pubs with cheaper, hearty meals, while countering the flood of cheap meat in the market after the UK’s trade deals with Australia and Canada. 

Jeremy Clarkson is seeking out experienced candidates to head up his new restaurant based at his Diddly Squat farm site in Oxfordshire

In a typically wry column for The Sunday Times, Clarkson lamented how Britain is currently facing shortages because of a lack of skilled workers available.

But Mr Clarkson argued that age shouldn’t make a difference when it comes to employment.

He wrote: ‘Old people are very happy to sit about in their inconti-trousers, doing nothing all day, and then moaning about how young people are all too spoilt and entitled to get off their backsides.’

The popularity of Clarkson’s Farm on Amazon Prime has led to queues for the Diddly Squat Farm Shop, with neighbours growing concerned with the increase in traffic in the area

The television personality countered this by citing the achievements of Emma Radacanu or his hardworking apprentice Kaleb Cooper, ‘who’s basically an 18-hour-a-day Duracell bunny’.

‘I see lots of driven young people every day but rarely do I see an older person charging round the place, all elbows and fire and steeling determination. Which means there’s a vast and experienced pool of talent going to waste.’

Setting out a plea for an employee with experience, he added: ‘I want a kitchen full of pies and gravy and wipe-down chairs and Bad company on the stereo and everyone exchanging bewildered looks when someone asks for the transgender lavatories.’ 

Jeremy Clarkson taking photos with locals ahead of his showdown with villagers angry over his popular farm shop earlier this month

Jeremy Clarkson addresses a town hall meeting called to discuss his farm shop – and was given the middle finger by one local

Earlier this month, Mr Clarkson called a meeting with local residents, having invoked the ire of his neighbours over the growing popularity of Diddly Squat with tourists. 

Hundreds of fans from across Britain have queued for hours at a time to get inside the farm shop since his fly-on-the-wall series, Clarkson’s Farm, landed on Amazon Prime this summer and unexpectedly took the country by storm.

Locals remain divided about the surge in tourists to Chadlington, with some saying it has put the Oxfordshire village on the map and boosted the local economy while others are concerned it could transform the community for the worse.

Police have even been called out to manage traffic chaos caused by Clarkson fans descending on his farm in the hope of meeting the TV star and to check out his stock, which includes honey, chutney and T-shirts. 

Jeremy Clarkson arrives at the town hall meeting called to discuss his farm shop

He has faced further controversy over plans to convert the disused lambing shed on his 1,000-acre farm Diddly Squat – named as such because it made no money – and use it for a kitchen serving meals for £30-a-head.

He recently called a meeting with local residents at the Memorial Hall in Chadlington to discuss the issue, admitting that he himself has found the crowds ‘a bloody nuisance and you have my absolute sympathy’. 

Mr Clarkson said: ‘They like to come in and wee on my drive. I am just as keen as all of you to try and manage the situation’. 

He also offered VIP passes for villagers and to fund a large no speeding sign.  

People queue to the town hall meeting called to discuss Jeremy Clarkson’s farm shop

Also seen arriving at the hall were straight-talking Kaleb Cooper (right), who regularly shouts at the star during the hit Amazon Prime series and tells him he has ‘f**ked up’ 

Clarkson is said to be considering opening a restaurant in an old lambing shed, serving produce from his TV farm

During the heated clash with villagers, one local man raged: ‘The things is Mr Clarkson, you are not a farmer. You are a media personality and farming to you is a sideline. But this is our village and we have to live with the consequences.’ 

Another villager told Clarkson that his farm shop offered little to locals. ‘I wonder how many people in this room have actually been up there,’ he asked, to which one resident replied, ‘Have you seen the queues? We couldn’t get in if we wanted to.’

But others were vociferous in their support for Clarkson.

One woman, who asked not to be named, said: ‘As far as I’m concerned he is doing a brilliant job. I have been in the village 56 years and I’ll say this, those complaining are a bunch of t**ts. Why the hell should he have to do this at all? No other farmer would have to do it.’ 

Several times in the meeting, Clarkson pitched himself as the hard-pressed farmer, having to diversify to make ends meet. He spoke of the impossibility of competing against Australian imports and referenced the ending of subsidies. 

One audience member criticised his decision to change the name of the farm from its original title, Curdle Hill Farm. Clarkson said it still officially had that name and Diddly Squat was a trading name, adding : ‘Diddly Squat… which is how much money it is making.’ 

But he was told that the village contained increasing numbers of children and there were concerns about speeding.

He said: ‘I can’t be held responsible for what people do when they leave my shop. I already have a sign urging people to drive slowly, I will put up a bigger one.’

He added: ‘We were overwhelmed by what happened after the show launched. We had no idea of the impact it would have. Now we can stop and think about how we can continue to employ 15 people on the farm and making it grow while not spoiling anyone’s life in the village.’

Last November Clarkson submitted a Building Control Application to convert his lambing shed into a cafe to ‘sell alcohol and provide entertainment’. This was given an ‘initial acceptance’. And earlier this year, he was given permission to sell alcohol at the premises from 9am until 11pm.

Chadlington residents were left horrified as large queues formed on the usually quiet country roads in the idyllic Cotswolds countryside

On Clarkson’s Farm, Clarkson works on his 1,000 acre plot of land, located between Chipping Norton and Chadlington in the idyllic Cotswolds countryside in Oxfordshire. 

The former petrol-head appears to have settled for a serene farming lifestyle as part of his new hit Amazon Prime series.

But the show’s roaring success – and the opening of Clarkson’s popular Diddly Squat Farm Shop – has created chaos for villagers who are more accustomed to cows than congestion.  

Speaking previously about the farm shop’s success, Clarkson said: ‘I mean, if we’d built a nuclear power station I could understand their concerns, but not a tiny farm shop.’

The broadcaster bought the plot of land in 2008 and Clarkson’s Farm follows the presenter’s highs and lows of tackling the 1,000 acre working farm. 

The presenter recently revealed he was ‘the happiest he has ever been’ and that he ‘loved every second’ of filming the new hit show. His Diddly Squat shop is described as a ‘small barn full of good, no-nonsense things’ on its official website. 

Jeremy Clarkson’s new Amazon farming show has been a huge hit with viewers in the UK

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