Jeremy Clarkson's partner Lisa Hogan 'hated' star's original pub decision

Jeremy Clarkson's pub The Farmer's Dog is a roaring success now, but his initial search for the perfect boozer did not always go smoothly. The Clarkson's Farm star, 65, has been running the West Oxfordshire pub for nearly a year now - but it turns out his first choice of location did not go down well with partner Lisa Hogan.

Lisa has spoken about how chaotic Jeremy's hunt for a pub really was ahead of the anticipated fourth series of Clarkson's Farm, which will showcase his mission to open a countryside boozer. She admitted to being unhappy with his first choice of location, saying: "We looked at many, many, many pubs. All of them charming, apart from the one that Jeremy wanted to buy originally, which was just not charming at all – because there were so many things wrong with it."

While Lisa did not name the venue, she didn't hold back in her criticism of it either. Jeremy's partner also revealed how shocked she was by his excited announcement that he was going to buy a pub, admitting: "I just kind of sat back and chuckled. There was a lot of chortling!"

Although the pair were both happy with The Windmill, which Jeremy renamed The Farmer's Dog, they found there were still plenty of problems to deal with at the property before it could be opened to the public.

Lisa shared: "The pub we found is extraordinary with the most incredible views. It had a slightly shady past in terms of activities going on in the car park, but it is a wonderful setting."

The shady past she is referring to is the property's history as a dogging site. Clarkson previously addressed this in a cheeky video for Instagram, lifting a twig with a pair of women’s knickers hooked onto it and joking: "Tell me you bought a pub on a dogging site without telling me you bought a pub on a dogging site."

Thankfully the location's past use has not stopped visitors from flocking to the resurrected countryside pub, which is usually booked out a month in advance and has even been visited by celebs such as Ellen DeGeneres.

Clarkson previously admitted in a piece for The Sunday Times that the property had its fair share of issues he had to deal with before it could be opened to the public.

He revealed that some of the building's worse features included a dangerously small cellar, a collapsing gable end, illegal loos, unfit water, and even a loft full of dead rats.

However, he did not back down from the challenge, after having gone to the trouble of finding a place he could envision running a business from. He added: "I just needed the pub where this could all happen. And then, after I’d looked at about 14,000, I found just the place."