Lisa Hogan opens up on original pub Jeremy Clarkson wanted to buy before Farmer’s Dog: ‘It was NOT charming!’
Jeremy Clarkson opened the doors to his pub, The Farmer’s Dog, almost a year ago following a bumpy ride to find the perfect location.
The former Top Gear star, 65, looked at several venues before landing on the West Oxfordshire establishment, and partner Lisa Hogan, 51, admitted one contender was “not charming”.
Ahead of the much-anticipated series four of Clarkson’s Farm, which will explore the Grand Tour star’s journey of purchasing a pub, Hogan opened up about what the process was like.
When asked what her reaction was when her partner explained he wanted to buy a pub, she admitted: “I just kind of sat back and chuckled, there was a lot of chortling!”
She went on: “He would come in, tearing his hair out, I would just think, ‘Oh, I’ve been through all this before. It will be fine and this is your learning curve.’
“We looked at many, many, many pubs. All of them charming, apart from the one that Jeremy wanted to buy originally, which was just not charming at all, because there were so many things wrong with it.”
While she didn’t go into details about the pub that was in the running, she noted that The Farmer’s Dog also threw up some problems.
“So he was enthusiastic about so many places, but then this place came up, and, you know, it is absolutely perfect visually,” she added.
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“But not being on the main sewage, not having electricity and not having sufficient water isn’t ideal.
“The pub we found is extraordinary with the most incredible views. It’s a beautiful setting and location.
“It had a slightly shady past in terms of activities going on in the car park, but it is a wonderful setting.”
Clarkson has admitted last summer that he’d had to deal with a very off-putting issue in in the business venture.
Writing for The Sunday Times, Clarkson stated: “I just needed the pub where this could all happen. And then, after I’d looked [at] about 14,000, I found just the place.”
He delved into some of the issues in the column, in which he explained: “There is some work to be done on the pub itself.
“For example, the cellar is too small, the gable end is falling down, the outside decking area is dangerous, the water is unfit for human consumption, the loft is full of dead rats and the lavatories are illegal.”
With the help of the local council, Clarkson managed to shut down a nearby dogging site but the area is still littered with problems, such as dead rats.
However, in an Instagram post shared last year, Clarkson demonstrated some of the unfortunate aspects of sorting the site, with the area’s dogging past startlingly clear.
In a short clip, the former Top Gear star dryly remarked: “Tell me you bought a pub on a dogging site without telling me you bought a pub on a dogging site,” before revealing he was holding a twig with a pair of women’s underwear hooked onto it.
He grimaced before ending the clip, which amused fans were quick to comment on.