Clarkson's Farm shows Jeremy Clarkson's 'exhausted' staff quit over pub opening chaos

Yahoo

4 hours ago

Jeremy Clarkson battles a series of last-minute setbacks, including suffering a staff walkout at his Farmer's Dog pub in the series four finale of Clarkson's Farm, streaming on Prime Video from Friday morning.
There are a whole number of problems that the farmer faced on the first weekend of opening The Farmer's Dog over August bank holiday 2024. What may have seemed like a smooth sailing success from the outside is now revealed to be far from the truth as Clarkson takes viewers behind the scenes of the pub opening in the Clarkson's Farm's finale.
Clarkson's £20,000 tractor restoration from Richard Hammond arrives. But to name a few problems: staff quit and others are left exhausted, water fails, the roof leaks and at one point there is no gas leaving the pub unable to serve food for several hours, a man who falls over has surgery. The list feels endless.
Understandably the 65-year-old is left stressed while trying to firefight all of the problems happening at once.
After a hectic opening day, Clarkson sits down with Charlie Ireland to discuss a plan of action in the new episodes of the docuseries. The presenter had already praised how much he loved the staff who were friendly and smiling. He tells Ireland: "We've lost two waitresses. We lost a pot washer. After one day."
Quickly it's clear this isn't the only problem as Clarkson is plunged into darkness. He says: "Lights are still flickering. Lights flickered off..."
Later, emotions are running high when Clarkson is having crisis talks with his front of house staff Sue and Rachel in the upstairs bar at the pub. They tell him things are not going well and that he should go back for a second time to thank his kitchen staff for coping amid the drama.
The front of house say that there are "too many problems" to run a "successful business" from this specific site. "Everyone is exhausted, even when we say go for a break, there is no staff room," they tell him. "They're weeing in a portaloo. It's not lovely conditions. They love you. They're excited about the British food."
"I have no problem with the staff," says Clarkson. "Not one single problem with the staff. They're all brilliant. They are smiling. They are nice."
"The kitchen is about to go pop, those chefs have had it.... It might be worth popping into the kitchen."
"I just popped in," Clarkson informs the front of house team.
"Go back."
"What?" Clarkson doesn't take the feedback well. At the end of his tether, he snaps. Clarkson hits back: "Do you want me to go and find a manager? Or go back into the kitchen?"
Clarkson makes it clear that his work is endless when it comes to the pub opening. He goes on sarcastically: "Or do you want me to the leak mended? Or do you want me to deal with the car parking issues? Or do you want me to deal with the neighbours? Do you want me to deal with the council? I've got plenty to be doing and I'll get on with it. Thank you."
It's worth noting how tired Clarkson is because he's working around the clock with the pub opening while also juggling the harvest at night, having to even pull all-nighters.
Watch Clarkson's Farm series 4 trailer
That's the last stern conversation he has with the front of house duo Sue and Rachel because the next day they have quit too. Naturally Clarkson is disappointed but he has already got a solution. The former Top Gear presenter has lined up a replacement.
In an update, he says: "We've worked out if we shut the lavatories and use plastic plastic glasses instead of glass glasses, we'll have enough water to serve food until six. Next problem is Sue and Rachel, who brilliantly set the pub, up have now left. So it's a Sunday morning, I've managed to get a new front of house person who is the head of sixth form at the local village school. That's good."
As Clarkson's Farm season four comes to an end, the core members of the team go for a special lunch at a nearby pub. They choose not to celebrate at The Farmer's Dog itself because even though Clarkson says it's working "reasonably well", they couldn't "relax there".
"There was always something to do," Clarkson says in the voiceover. "Something to mend. Something to worry about... So we went to someone else's pub instead."
Over the pub lunch, Clarkson is joined by girlfriend Lisa Hogan, Kaleb Cooper, Gerard Cooper, Ireland, Alan and Annie.
The presenter tells his core Clarkson's Farm team: "It hasn't been the smoothest of openings... The pub has been tricky. But it's there now. So well done. We did it. To The Farmer's Dog." They all raise a toast: "To the farmers."
The final episodes of Clarkson's Farm series four are available to stream on Prime Video now.