The Grand Tour

The Grand Tour’s James May Reveals Pub Issues As COVID Causes Mayhem

On the ITV breakfast show on Thursday, James May talked about the upcoming episode of The Grand Tour, Carnage A Trois. With a release date of December 17, James joins Jeremy Clarkson and Richard Hammond once again for antics with French cars around the UK.

As James was filming and planning the future of The Grand Tour, he also became the co-owner of The Royal Oak pub in Tisbury, and since then he’s been fighting COVID-19 restrictions as the public shy away from going to pubs to eat and drink.

Talking to ITV’s Charlotte Hawkins, he asked viewers “not to abandon pubs”, despite COVID cases increasing over the Christmas period.

“I know you bought a pub last year, didn’t you?” Charlotte asked the ex-Top Gear presenter. “Because it was struggling.”

She continued:

“Obviously, it’s a difficult time now, we’ve just been hearing this morning.”

The UK has just recorded an all-time high of COVID cases since the beginning of the pandemic, hitting 78,610 cases on Wednesday.

“We had the Chef Tom Kerridge on [the show] earlier,” she continued. “He was saying about hundreds of cancellations [and] how hard it’s going to be for the [hospitality} industry.

“What has that been like for you?” Charlotte questioned.

“Well, I only got back two days ago from my big trip but I have been talking to our pub manager,” he answered, before revealing that The Taphouse, a hotel connected to the pub, is at “full capacity for Christmas day.

“We’re not a massive pub, so that’s not a huge amount of people.”

“It really depends [on] what [Government] rules are introduced next week,” continued.

“The problem with the pubs is that they tend to get hit hardest at the time when they should be at their busiest.

“I would urge people not to abandon things like pubs altogether,

“Just as the prime minister was saying this morning, I think.

“Do it carefully, sit apart, don’t mix in massive groups [and] stick with your own family and so on,” he added.

Where is James May’s New Pub?

The pub is located in a small village called Swallowcliffe, Wiltshire, 2 miles southeast of Tisbury and 11 miles west of Salisbury. Consisting of only a small number of roads, using Google Maps makes it very easy to find the Royal Oak, which sits on the side of Common Lane as you can see from the map below:

The pub looks large from the outside and possesses a large car park to its left.

It’s hard to miss with a large sign on the front of the building and a hanging sign by the road.

The Royal Oak pub is accessible via the A350 and is close to a 14th Century Castle named Old Wardour Castle which is West of Swallowcliffe.

Please find a fully interactive map of the area below:

Opening Times

Alex Harrington

Alex started racing at a young age so certainly knows his way around a car and a track. He can just about put a sentence together too, which helps. He has a great interest in the latest models, but would throw all of his money at a rusty old French classic and a 300ZX. Contact: [email protected]

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One Comment

  1. good luck with the pub hope it goes well . wish we had interesting pubs like that in Canada wish i could visit your pub looks great

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