Jeremy Clarkson loses latest bid to open restaurant at Diddly Squat Farm

Jeremy Clarkson has lost his latest bid to operate a restaurant from his Diddly Squat Farm but will be allowed to extend a car park used for its farm shop.

The television presenter lodged an appeal with the planning inspectorate after West Oxfordshire District Council refused the developments at his farm in Chadlington.

Clarkson opened a café and restaurant at Diddly Squat farm in July 2022 despite initial planning applications being rejected, claiming he had found a "loophole" in the regulations. However, the council issued an enforcement notice on 12 August 2022 ordering the restaurant to close.

Clarkson previously appealed the notice before appearing to change his mind and writing to the council to state that he "no longer wished" to open the restaurant.

In a letter, the presenter-turned-farmer said he had planned to try a "highly ecological way of rejuvenating the soil" called mob grazing, but which would not be profitable unless he could serve the beef in a restaurant.

Planning officers originally recommended the application be refused on the grounds that it "would not be compatible or consistent in scale with the existing farming business" and would have "a visually intrusive and harmful impact on the rural character, scenic beauty and tranquillity of the area".

The planning inspector’s hearing, held in March, heard the farm had bought economic benefits to the community, particularly those producers whose produce is sold in the farm shop, but also increased traffic and caused disruption, the BBC reports.

The inspector approved the extension of the car park and a change of use application to mixed use, comprising agriculture, café, farm shop, parking and lavatory facilities, however refused to permit the use of a barn to open a restaurant on the site.

The Chadlington farm has featured in the Amazon Prime Video documentary Clarkson's Farm, which attracted large numbers of tourists to the area.