James May laid into Jeremy Clarkson live on Lorraine on Friday, delivering a sharp dig about Clarkson’s Burford, Oxfordshire pub, The Farmer's Dog. The 62-year-old guest appeared on the ITV program to discuss his upcoming tour, which starts in Woking, Surrey, at the end of the month. Near the end of the interview, host Christine Lampard asked whether he has been banned from Clarkson’s pub. May answered with a quip that drew laughs from the studio: “Apparently... but I have said before that’s a bit like being banned from the golf club because I wasn’t going to go anyway.”
May’s lighthearted jab came as he teased his relationship with Clarkson and Richard Hammond, with whom he rose to fame on Top Gear. The trio later starred in The Grand Tour, which debuted on Amazon Prime in 2016 and has produced 46 episodes across six series. The former BBC trio is widely associated with a long arc of car-themed entertainment that helped define modern motoring television. May touched on that history while speaking with Lampard, noting that his time on the programs stretched across decades.
“I’ve got my own pub, which is just around the corner,” May said, alluding to his own business interests and quipping at a distance from Clarkson’s venture. “I’m not going to go 75 miles to his. Especially because mine is better.” The playful exchange underlined the enduring camaraderie and ribbing that has characterized May, Clarkson, and Hammond since their collaborative days. May reflected on the years spent making television together, offering a candid assessment of his life in the medium: “That did occupy 25 years of my life. I worked at that job longer than I’ve worked at any other. That’s almost half of my life, over half of my working life doing that. It is quite remarkable, but it’s gone now and I’m just old.”
The Lorraine segment arrives amid a broader context of Clarkson’s public comments about his own venue. In recent weeks, the TV presenter has discussed the challenges that come with running a busy pub. He has described problems with some patrons who he says attempt to exploit the business financially. In an opinion piece published in The Times, Clarkson said he’s confronted “a fraud epidemic” as customers allegedly try to claim large refunds after supposedly being poisoned or given the wrong product. He recounted a case in which a woman claimed to have been served beer instead of cider and that gluten in it had ruined her holiday, prompting a reimbursement request worth tens of thousands of pounds.
Clarkson’s remarks touched on a broader debate about customer behavior in hospitality venues, including what he described as “food intolerance” fraud. He said that, even when a complaint is legitimate, he and other landlords face difficulties in meeting every request without risking legitimate business costs. He acknowledged the temptation to ban certain categories of customers but cautioned that such moves could threaten commercial viability. The Times piece quotes him saying: “We had one the other day who said she’d been given beer instead of cider and the gluten in it had made her so ill she’d had to cancel her holiday and we now had to reimburse her. Happily, we have her on CCTV not drinking beer, so we are safe on that one. But often landlords aren’t so lucky. Many tell me this food intolerance fraud is now an epidemic. And even when it isn’t fraudulent, it’s still annoying, because these faddy eaters demand that the kitchen staff jump through hoops to ensure they will not be served anything that might upset them... I’m seriously thinking of banning people with food intolerances. I know it would be commercial suicide but they are just so annoying.”
The notoriety of The Farmer’s Dog—Clarkson’s Burford pub—continues to draw crowds since it opened in August of last year, with visitors eager to sample the establishment amid the media spotlight surrounding Clarkson and his former Top Gear collaborators. Clarkson has publicly acknowledged the pub’s popularity but has also engaged in frank discussions about the conduct of some patrons, illustrating the daily tensions that can accompany running a high-profile hospitality venue.
For May, the Lorraine appearance served as a mix of promotion and personal reflection. He returned to the stage for a new live tour at the end of September, after years of working with Hammond and Clarkson in various television formats. The chat offered fans a rare, off-air glimpse into his take on the long arc of his career and his enduring ties to the show that helped launch his public persona. While the exact status of his relationship with Clarkson remains a topic of public curiosity, May’s comments underscored a professional history defined by both collaboration and playful rivalry that helped shape a generation of car-oriented entertainment.
As both men continue to chart solo paths—May with touring and Clarkson with publishing and pub ventures—the dynamic between the former co-hosts remains a fixture of popular culture. In the wake of the Lorraine interview, observers will watch for further public exchanges or bans, but the tone of May’s remarks on Friday suggested a blend of affectionate jabs and professional respect that has long characterized their collaboration.