The former Top Gear presenter has been involved in a friendly rivalry with Jeremy Clarkson since they opened their respective pubs in 2021 and 2024
Since departing The Grand Tour, ex-Top Gear host James May has followed in the footsteps of former colleague Jeremy Clarkson by launching his own pub.
While Jeremy, 65, operates The Farmer’s Dog in Asthall,Oxfordshire, James’ establishment, The Royal Oak, is located in Swallowcliffe, Wiltshire.
Both watering holes have remained afloat since their respective openings in 2021 and 2024, with the two venues maintaining a good-natured rivalry thanks to their celebrity proprietors, reports Gloucestershire Live.
In an interview last year, James, who celebrates his 63rd birthday today, hailed his own pub as the perfect refuge should a zombie apocalypse strike.
He told The Guardian: “Oh, mine. It’s in Wiltshire. We’re heavily armed down here. People queue up at Clarkson’s. There’s queueing protocol going on, which I don’t like.
“We’ve had this argument many times. The whole point of the bar in a pub is that it’s wide and shallow. It’s not a hatch. Why would you queue at it? Good bar people know the order in which to serve.”
This is not the first time the former motoring presenters have traded playful barbs, with Jeremy allegedly banning James from his premises last year.
In response, James fired back during an appearance on Lorraine, likening the situation to “like being banned from the golf club.”
He explained: “Apparently, and I’ve said before it’s a bit like being banned from a golf club, I wasn’t going to go anyway. I’ve got my own pub which is just around the corner, I’m not going to go 75 miles to his. Especially as mine’s better.”
Despite the jabs, the relationship between James and Jeremy has remained amicable, with Clarkson insisting the duo could not have collaborated for so many years if there were genuine animosity.
Jeremy previously told The Times: “We’ve spent more time in each other’s company than our families’ over the last 25 years, so I don’t think it would have lasted as long as it did if we’d hated each other as much as James likes to think.”
Beyond their pub-versus-pub rivalry, both presenters have confronted the harsh economic realities facing hospitality venues across the UK.
Speaking on LBC earlier this year, James offered a candid assessment of the challenges involved in running a business like his.
He told Nick Ferrari: “The margins are tiny, and one bit of old 18th-century thatch falling off, or in our case, having to resurface the gravelly car park, can be enough to push you over the edge.
Source: Mirror
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