Jeremy Clarkson said he is considering banning customers with food intolerances from his pub after alleging that some patrons had tried to extract large payouts by claiming to have been made ill by food or drink served at the venue.
Clarkson, the 65-year-old former Top Gear presenter and owner of the Farmer’s Dog in Asthall, Oxfordshire, said that one customer demanded £50,000 after claiming she had been given beer instead of cider and that gluten had left her too ill to go on holiday. He wrote that the pub’s CCTV footage showed the woman not drinking beer, which he said protected the business from the claim. "Many tell me this food intolerance fraud is now an epidemic," Clarkson wrote in The Times, and added: "I'm seriously thinking of banning people with food intolerances. I know it would be commercial suicide but they are just so annoying."
In columns published this week, Clarkson detailed other incidents he said had occurred at the pub, which he opened in August last year after purchasing the business for around £1 million. He described patrons who he said had vomited on staff, customers who took a crowbar from an outside shed and used it to prize open a locked toilet door after a child accidentally trapped herself, and people who urinated on the bathroom floor.
Clarkson said these behaviour problems came on top of a digital theft that he said took £27,000 from the pub’s accounting system. In a separate column for The Sun he wrote: "Someone broke into our accounting system and helped themselves to £27,000." He framed the breach as part of a wider wave of incidents affecting British businesses, citing recent cyberattacks on major companies.
The comments follow the opening of the Farmer’s Dog, which has drawn thousands of customers since last summer. Clarkson’s move into the hospitality industry has repeatedly attracted media attention, both for the venue’s popularity and for public disputes and operational challenges he has described in his columns.
Industry experts and trade groups have warned that food-intolerance claims can present genuine challenges for hospitality operators, who must balance legal obligations, customer safety and the practical limits of a busy service environment. Restaurants and pubs are required to follow food-safety regulations and to make reasonable accommodations for known allergies and intolerances, while also maintaining records and training to reduce risk.
Cybersecurity specialists say small and medium-sized hospitality businesses are increasingly targeted by digital criminals because their systems may be less protected than those of larger firms. Recent high-profile incidents include an attack that affected Jaguar Land Rover’s manufacturing and IT operations and reports of breaches at other national retailers. Companies affected by such incidents have reported operational disruption and, in some cases, investigations into whether customer data were accessed.
Clarkson’s account of events at the Farmer’s Dog is part of a stream of commentary he has published about running the pub. He has repeatedly described difficulties with customers and the practicalities of operating a rural inn. He did not provide additional evidence beyond his columns for the claims about the attempted £50,000 payout or the accounting theft, and representatives for the Farmer’s Dog did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The pub remains open to the public and continues to draw patrons to the Cotswolds. Clarkson’s statements have renewed debate about how hospitality businesses should handle claims of food-related illness, the responsibilities of operators and customers, and the growing threat of cybercrime to smaller enterprises.