by Jeremy Clarkson has picked the “worst weekend” to open his new pub The Windmill, says West Oxfordshire District Council councilor Liam Walker.
The councilor told Yahoo UK: “A bank holiday weekend couldn’t have been picked the worst weekend to do it if I’m being completely honest, but you know it’s Jeremy, don’t you?” Walker is a Conservative County Councilor for the Hanborough and Minster Lovell Division, as well as a West Oxfordshire District Council councilor for the Hailey, Minster Lovell and Leafield ward.
Filming for series four of Prime Video’s hugely successful Clarkson’s Farm is underway and the new pub, in the village of Burford, Oxfordshire, will feature in the farming show. Excitement has been building for months since it was announced that the former The Grand Tour presenter, 64, had bought the country pub for less than £1m.
However, councilor Walker has expressed concern about parking and congestion in the local area when the new pub, in the village of Burford, Oxfordshire, opens on the Bank Holiday weekend. His fears are unfounded. The opening of Clarkson’s farm shop on Diddly Squat Farm initially angered locals because of the huge queues and increased traffic.
Don’t bother locals Jeremy Clarkson
Walker had some good advice for the TV presenter before the pub opened. “Don’t bother the locals again,” he said. “They are not all the red trouser brigade. Respect the locals and they will support his next venture.”
So what’s the secret to keeping the local neighbors happy? “Maybe a free Hawkstone beer,” he quipped. “I think you understand the challenges, especially with the parking and the congestion and I think Jeremy is fair.”
The District Councilor explained why parking and congestion is a concern, especially for the upcoming Bank Holiday weekend. “Parking is a concern,” he explained. “And the traffic as well because of the location. So, we’ve had a lot of problems with the farm shop because of how popular it really is. Every series of Clarkson’s Farm that comes out, we see a huge boost in tourism. “
Don’t bother the locals againCouncilor Liam Walker
He added: “At the end of the day, people travel from all over the country. I’ve been up there a few times and you meet people from Scotland and Wales who are thoughtful. To be honest, travel they all that way, and obviously they wanted to spend some money and shop in the local area and visit the local area, which is great for West Oxfordshire.
“But that comes with the caveat of extra parking and congestion. Especially this location because it’s right next to a very busy dual carriageway, where it is, across the A40 from London to Cheltenham. That’s why I raised it with Our team will look at major ways of what mitigations could be implemented to learn the lessons from the farm shop.”
“We all want the pub to succeed,” he said. “It’s just about respecting the local community and looking at ways to minimize the impact on the new villages and the road network.” Although he won’t be opening the pub in person, it is suspected that the former Top Gear presenter will be pulling the strings as the cameras roll for series four of Clarkson’s Farm.
He said: “Clarkson has a soft bank holiday weekend and that’s what he did with the farm shop, where he only had potatoes to sell in that particular row and everyone still came to him. So he will it’s interesting and they will obviously be interesting.” I will do that for the filming as they have already started filming for the next series and filming the pub.”
Read more: What we know about Jeremy Clarkson’s pub opening this weekend
Plans for The Windmill pub
Behind the scenes, Clarkson seems to have a plan in place to solve any parking concerns as he plans to find a nearby lot for parking. Councilor Walker lifted the lid on resolutions Clarkson may be seeking including a low-fee booking system and a nearby park as well as improving bus stops.
He said: “So the last I heard his team was looking at a nearby park, which is great because it increases capacity. But of course you increase capacity and it’s just going to increase footfall as well good. Personally, I think they need to look into some sort of reservation system as any tourist attraction does and people are charged a small fee to book.
“I think they’re doing that for the restaurant but it’s going to be a bit more difficult on the bar side of the pub. If you want to go for a beer, it’s quite difficult to do that but people could probably get tables reserve.” Although it is a “big effort” to get people on public transport to the pub, the councilor said that would help and the council is supporting Clarkson on “small things” such as improving bus stops.
What happened to Diddly Squat’s farm shop?
Clarkson’s fight with the council is at the center of Clarkson’s Farm on Prime Video. One of the long-running disagreements between them was over the farm shop. In the third series of Clarkson’s Farm, the TV star finally built the car park for the shop after getting the green light from the council.
Councilor Walker said it was all done for the cameras. He said: “The whole farm shop parking fiasco on the show, to be honest, it was made for good television and it worked for that purpose. Jeremy Jeremy. He does it in his own unique way. But there are planning rules, and no matter who you are, I think the Council is right to stick to them, it may seem a bit heavy-handed, but in the end they worked out a solution and he won his appeal on the car park.
“But the council has a duty to protect the area from these things. It’s a dangerous precedent otherwise everyone will start opening farm shops. We get a lot of famous people moving to West Oxfordshire now, so we don’t want all of them. to open farm shops and pubs, it would just be chaos.”
Read more: Jeremy Clarkson in tears as he celebrates a huge win against the council
Jeremy Clarkson was more influential than Countryfile
Despite the concerns, councilor Walker is a supporter of Clarkson and holds him in high esteem. “He could open anything and he was successful,” he said. In fact, the councilor said he thinks Clarkson has done more for the countryside than the BBC’s Countryfile show which has been running since 1988.
“We have a lot of farm shops in West Oxfordshire. But to be able to get an audience through social media, a few tweets and Instagram messages to get hours of travel to your farm shop in the center of one place is great. so I think for him to use his kind of motoring audience to come over and support the countryside and the rural community, I think, is huge and he should be commended for it.
“To be honest, I think it has done more for the farming and wildlife community, the rural community and Countryfile because it has engaged a much younger audience, getting them to buy British, and I think that is very important. “
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Yahoo has reached out to Jeremy Clarkson and Prime Video representatives for further comment.
