Jeremy Clarkson’s Diddly Squat farm shop reopens after Meghan controversy with visitor numbers down

Jeremy Clarkson‘s Diddly Squat Farm Shop reopened on Friday (10 February) for the first time since his controversial column about Meghan Markle.

Clarkson, 62, closed the store last month after he was heavily criticised for his “offensive” column in The Sun.

The former Top Gear presenter wrote that he dreamt of the day when Meghan was “made to parade naked through the streets of every town in Britain while the crowds chant, ‘Shame!’ and throw lumps of excrement at her.”

He was widely criticised at the time and accused of peddling “online hatred” against Markle.

The presenter has reopened the store to mark the launch of the second series of his Amazon show Clarkson’s Farm, however, visitor numbers were visibility down, according to an SWNS report.

Some 14 visitors formed a small queue this morning to enter the store, contrasting the crowds of people who flooded to the farm last year.

The cost of the products sold in the farm shop have reportedly increased in the last two years. A box of eggs costs £3.20, while milk from Clarkson‘s “cow juice” milk dispenser now costs £1.20 –  up on 2021 prices.

Unlike other launch days, no queues had formed outside, which have previously been known to completely obstruct traffic into the village of Chadlington.

In the aftermath of Clarkson’s controversial column, The Grand Tour presenter’s daughter Emily spoke out against her father.

“I want to make it clear that I stand against everything my father wrote about Meghan Markle,” she wrote on Instagram at the time. “I remain standing in support of those that are targeted with online hatred”.

Carol Vorderman, John Bishop, and Kathy Burke were among the celebrities to condemn Clarkson’s comments on Twitter.

As the Duke and Duchess of Sussex pointed out in their response to Clarkson’s apology, this was far from the first time he has hit out at Markle. He has even publicly sided with his infamous foe Piers Morgan on the topic of the Sussexes.

“Unless each of his other pieces were also written ‘in a hurry’, as he states, it is clear that this is not an isolated incident shared in haste, but rather a series of articles shared in hate,” the couple said in a joint statement.

Over the past two years, Clarkson continued to criticise Markle through a stream of online criticism and newspaper columns.

On Thursday, (10 January) it was announced that Clarkson’s column will be investigated by press regulator Ipso.

The Independent Press Standards Organisation (Ipso) announced that it had launched the investigation after receiving more than 25,100 complaints. It is Ipso’s most complained-about article ever.

The press watchdog said that they were taking forward two complaints by The Fawcett Society and The Wilde Foundation. The complaints claimed that Clarkson’s article breached Clause 1 (Accuracy), Clause 3 (Harassment) and Clause 12 (Discrimination) of the Ipso code of conduct.

When he later apologised for the article, Clarkson explained that the image of the duchess being humiliated was in reference to a scene from Game of Thrones.

He later described his language as “disgraceful” and admitted he was “profoundly sorry”. The Sun also issued an apology about the column, which was removed online.

Additional reporting from SWNS.