Jeremy Clarkson: ‘I want to put Peroni out of business'

Times

4 hours ago

It's 1pm on a gloriously sunny Friday and it appears that most of Britain has downed tools and headed to the Farmer's Dog in west Oxfordshire. Children in pushchairs compete for space on the narrow footpaths with hairy bikers and young couples holding hands. 'Goodness me,' says one elderly man navigating the crowds while carrying 12 bottles of Hawkstone lager that he's just bought from the shop in the pub garden. Jeremy Clarkson owns the pub and is Hawkstone's largest shareholder. He also owns a nearby farm, Diddly Squat, and all three feature prominently in his Amazon TV series, Clarkson's Farm. Hence the crowds today.
The former Top Gear presenter arrives in good spirits via the staff entrance and pops up the back stairs to an area known as the Farmers' Clubhouse, where Owen Jenkins, the managing director of Hawkstone, and Johnny Hornby, Clarkson's fellow shareholder in the brewery, a friend and a marketing whizz, are waiting. Hornby pours three and a half pints of Bounder, the latest Hawkstone brew. It's a 4.2 per cent Helles golden lager and it tastes wonderfully crisp on a hot day.
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The question is: will Clarkson enjoy it too? He's on Mounjaro, the weight-loss drug, and is looking better for it. It has put him off snacking. His approach to a pint, though, is altogether more determined: 'You have to fight it. Don't give in,' he urges Hornby, who is also injecting and is the one sitting with the half pint. Clarkson says he pictures the Danish scientist [Lotte Bjerre Knudsen] whose research led to the development of injectable weight-loss drugs in this battle of wits. 'It's not just enjoying the pint. It's the fact I've beaten [her],' he adds gleefully. He takes a guilt-free glug of Bounder. 'Oh, this is so good. Jaguar should be marketing this as Jags are for bounders — Terry-Thomas,' he adds, referring to the character actor and setting the tone for the interview.
Ably assisted by his Bounder, Clarkson tackles the perception that he's really only lent his name to Hawkstone; that it's neither something he is passionate about, nor any good. 'Some people assume it is a Ryan Reynolds-backed, Kylie Minogue-backed liquid. There is a polite look on their faces and they think, I'll take a swig and say 'well done', in a patronising way. But there is always this moment where they go, 'Actually, that is f***ing good.'' Ploughing on, he suggests Minogue's wine may not be a winner. 'You buy Kylie's rosé because you are a Kylie fan — you have it once and then go back to proper rosé. With Hawkstone, it is demonstrably better than anything from Italy, Germany, Spain or America.'
The recently knighted David Beckham gets it in the neck next. 'I'm going to betray a loyalty here. This is from David,' he says, reading out an exchange on a messaging app. 'I said congratulations [on Beckham's selection to guest edit Country Life magazine] and he replied, 'Thanks for your message; not official yet, but if it happens I'll have a nice pint of Stella.'' Clarkson pauses for effect, raising a bushy eyebrow. 'You had better f***ing not' was his straightforward reply, before adding his punchline: 'If he is going to drink anything that's not Hawkstone, it should be Beck's.' Hornby joins in. 'Is he Belgian? If he is, then that's fine. Does he come from a long line of Belgian farmers that he's trying to help? If so, that is completely noble.' The glasses are now half empty, but the laughing is getting louder.
Having put Beckham and Minogue in their place, Clarkson turns to Hawkstone, the Cotswold brewery in which he acquired his stake in 2021. 'It's the grown-up element of the whole operation,' he says. 'You have the farm shop, the pub and TV show, which are all entertainment. Hawkstone is grown-up as I have to go to board meetings where people talk in a foreign language. We don't even drink in board meetings, we are so busy using acronyms. 'In Q1 with the Ebitda running at 15 and YoY growth of …' YoY do I go to board meetings?' he asks.
Later he makes clear that the Farmer's Dog, which now employs 146 people, will be his last 'business'. 'I'm done with business now. I am not starting another business as long as I live. I don't understand it and am not motivated by money. I just want a good craic.'
The Bounder we are drinking is a spring special made with experimental hops grown in Britain. Hornby says they hope the demand Hawkstone is creating will help to turn around the industry's fortunes: 'The British hops industry has been in steady decline, but the amount we have now started to do with British hops could add 30 per cent to the size of the industry next year,' he says.
The 'grown in Britain' bit is important to them all. Four of the eight beers and ciders on tap at the Farmer's Dog are made from '100 per cent British' ingredients, Hornby says. Clarkson adds: 'Hopefully, everybody benefits from Hawkstone, the Farmer's Dog and Diddly Squat. Whether you are growing black pepper in Cornwall or barley in Scotland, it is all backing British farming. We were stuck on hops, but if we can say to the hop growers of Britain that we have enough demand to make it worth your while expanding your hops business, then that would make me incredibly happy.'
Hawkstone is now available in 2,000 pubs, up from 500 last summer, and is also stocked in Waitrose, Morrisons, Sainsbury's, Ocado and Majestic Wine. Of the larger pub groups, Young's is trialling it at 30 of its pubs: Simon Dodd, the chief executive, made a point of highlighting it as one of its most exciting new beers, alongside fruit-beer maker Jubel, which is also on this year's Sunday Times 100 (No 47).
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Hawkstone's sales almost tripled from £7.8 million in 2024 to £21.3 million in the year to this March. The plan for the rest of 2025? 'Sell tons of beer and put Peroni out of business,' Clarkson replies. 'I want the Peroni board saying, 'What the hell has gone wrong? We're selling nothing in the UK.' I want total domination of the British lager market.' He'll allow Carling to continue, an admission that Hawkstone is at the top end of beer pricing — a few pubs have delisted Hawkstone because it is more expensive than other options. To cope with demand, Hawkstone works with partners such as the Glasgow-based Wellpark, home to Tennent's and part of C&C Group, where its Hawkstone Premium lager is brewed. The Herefordshire-based Weston family, makers of Henry Westons Cider and Stowford Press, produce the Hawkstone ciders, which are endorsed by Kaleb Cooper, Clarkson's co-star on Clarkson's Farm. A small Oxfordshire distillery, Wood Brothers, makes Hawkstone gin and vodka.
Meanwhile, Clarkson's farm, Diddly Squat, will host a massive event next June, Clarkson says, providing another opportunity to flog more Hawkstone. 'We are hosting Cereals, which will be enormous.' I query what it is. 'I'd never heard of it either, but it's a trade [event] for 25,000, 30,000 farmers. It is usually in Cambridgeshire [it was actually held in Lincolnshire this year], and they go to a farm and they look at wheat and talk about fertiliser. It's coming to Diddly Squat next year.' And then he gets to the point of the story. 'Kaleb is panicking. If every farmer in the country comes and he has done all the farming, they'll be checking his work.'
Clarkson then becomes more thoughtful. He's been pondering the role of pubs in towns and villages, given the rate of attrition in recent years. 'It's been playing on my mind,' he begins. 'If you no longer have a village doctor, policeman, school, shop, vicar and if you lose the pub, then what is a village? It is just a collection of houses.'
He has a campaign in mind, and already has a slogan: 'Go to your local pub on your way home from work.' His idea is that people can reconnect and perhaps even disconnect, for a moment, from the rush of modern life. It might even make people happier. 'Just have a pint, a chat with someone. It is a bit less time scrolling on social media, a bit less time sitting with your non-communicative children. Go and have a pint. It is a sensible and nice thing to do. It benefits the individual, the pub. Even in London. If you come out of the Tube station, don't go home. Stop off at the pub you walk past every night.' And off he goes into the sunshine, walking the boards of his own pub.