Jeremy Clarkson has revealed the swingeing costs involved in keeping his Farmer's Dog pub open - as he blamed 'Starmer's Britain' for pushing up prices. The TV presenter says it is 'nigh-on impossible' to make profits at the venue in Oxfordshire despite it being rammed within an hour of first opening in August.
![[The pub in Burford, Oxfordshire, is a few miles away from Clarkson's Diddly Squat Farm]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/12/23/13/93424609-14221317-image-a-43_1734959088047.jpg)
He has outlined the burden imposed by a blend of thefts by customers, heating bills, parking and traffic marshal costs and payments to staff which have been hiked by Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer's Labour government. In her Budget on October 30, Chancellor Rachel Reeves increased NI contributions from employers on wages from 13.8 per cent to 15 per cent, starting in April.
![[Former Top Gear host Clarkson welcomed Conservative party leader Kemi Badenoch to his Farmer's Dog pub in Oxfordshire last Wednesday]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/12/23/13/93425001-14221317-image-a-55_1734960318574.jpg)
She also announced that the National Living Wage - for those aged 21 and over - would rise from £11.44 to £12.21 an hour that same month. Pub groups have been among her critics, warning venues were already under pressure amid widespread closures and that many more would now go bust.
![[More than 400 people waited hours to be the first to enter Clarkson's new pub when it opened in August]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/12/22/22/88860437-14219843-More_than_400_people_waited_hours_to_be_the_first_to_enter_Clark-a-18_1734908214280.jpg)
And former Top Gear host Clarkson, 64, has expressed his dismay at the heavy price he has to pay to keep his bar up and running despite attracting plenty of custom at its location in Burford, not far from his Diddly Squat Farm. He described behind the scenes at the Farmer's Dog as a 'total disaster', with not only glasses being stolen but also toilets breaking down and traffic chaos outside.
![[Pubgoers waited in a long row, often for hours, for a chance to have a pint in Clarkson's Farmer's Dog pub in August]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/12/22/22/88860559-14219843-Pubgoers_waited_in_a_long_row_often_for_hours_for_a_chance_to_ha-a-19_1734908226781.jpg)
