Jeremy Clarkson 'to buy local pub' in village popular with Brummies

Top Gear star Jeremy Clarkson is eyeing up a boozer in a village popular with Brummies for a day out. According to council insiders, the 63 year old is reportedly interested in acquiring the Grade II listed Coach & Horses Inn, located near Bourton-on-the-Water, Gloucestershire.

It is a regular haunt for many Brummies as it is less than 90 minutes away by car. The move is also popular with locals.

The pub is conveniently situated near the brewery where his Hawkstone Lager is produced. The lager utilises barley grown on Clarkson's Diddly Squat farm in Oxfordshire.

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Tom Carty, 37, manager of the Willow Pub in Bourton-on-the-Water, said: "It will be good for the village." He added, "He's a very high profile character."

Mr Carty believes that Clarkson's potential purchase could attract more tourists to the area, stating, "In this area we are always looking for more reasons for tourists to come and if this brings more tourists in this direction that is a good thing."

Mr Carty thinks the pub would be a perfect fit for Clarkson, noting, "The pub would suit him really well; it's opposite his brewery so why wouldn't you want a site like that? ".

The Coach and Horses pub, which sits on a main road, was previously an Indian restaurant popular with locals. Slav Wiswieski, 41, assistant manager at the Willow Pub and Bourton-on-the-Water resident, reminisced about the venue when it was the "best Indian restaurant in the village" before its closure last year. "It used to be open until late, and they used to do a British Sunday carvery even though it was Indian," he shared.

"I knew the people who ran it, they were very friendly and polite." He recalled: "There would always be something extra if you ordered anything.

"Great customer service and the food would be absolutely delicious there as well."

However, not everyone was thrilled about the potential increase in tourists. Rachel Heath, 52, director of Cotswold China and Cookware from Chipping Norton, voiced her concerns: "I suppose the only concern you would think is obviously the car aspect - he would just have to do it right," She suggested a practical solution for parking: "I suppose he's got carparking across the road at the brewery so if the small carpark filled he could re-route people over the road - it's not that far away."

"I think it's great and I think it will be good for the area and great for his brewery, but it is only a small carpark at that pub and I think he personally would attract a lot of people so he would have to make sure carparking is sorted, but he probably can sort it as [the carpark] is over the road [from the pub]."

Younger residents of Bourton are also excited about the potential reopening of the pub. Izzy Jordan, 22, a bartender at the Old Manse who resides in Bourton, mentioned that everyone used to frequent the Coach and Horses because it was open the latest. "It's been closed since September," she remarked.

"You could go out later there and it would be good for young people." She added: "The latest pub at the moment is open until 11pm so it's not good for young people around here really."

Grace Moeller, 22, said: "If it opened up again, it would be really good and we would definitely go again."