In 2020, Grand Tour star James May bought half the ownership of a pub called the Royal Oak.
James May has shared ownership of an award-winning pub
James May’s pub has won an award before his former Top Gear and Grand Tour co-star, Jeremy Clarkson’s.
James May is expected to return for a cameo in the new season of The Grand Tour, which has a trio of brand new hosts as part of a major overhaul.
Away from the world of TV, the 63-year-old host and author has an exciting side venture, after he bought “half a pub” in a village near his home in 2020.
Sadly, the pub closed its doors in 2007, and it remained unsold for seven years. Several applications to convert the building into private housing were rejected due to stiff opposition from local residents.
Eventually, three residents decided to purchase the run-down building and it reopened in 2015, with May coming on board five years later, much to the delight of the community.
Here is all you need to know about James May’s pub and where it is located.
The Royal Oak is in Swallowcliffe, near Salisbury, Wiltshire, where May spends a lot of his time.
May splits his time between two main homes – a primary residence in Hammersmith, West London, and his rural retreat in the tiny Wiltshire village.
The Royal Oak has been an inn since 1852, and its website says: “There is a lovely mix of old and new, with traditional thick beams and stone fireplaces as well as stylish wooden furniture by local designer Matthew Burt and a fabulous modern conservatory, framed with green oak, that overlooks the garden.
“With Tisbury train station, on the main Exeter to Waterloo line, no more than a five-minute drive from the pub, it is possible to escape London to the perfect countryside idyll in less than two hours.”
In June 2026, it was reported that the pub had won an award, before Jeremy Clarkson’s pub, The Farmer’s Dog.
The Royal Oak was named Best Local Pub in Wiltshire at the 2026 Muddy Stilettos Awards, which celebrates outstanding independent businesses across the counties.
Are Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May friends?
Clarkson, Hammond and May worked together for decades on both Top Gear and The Grand Tour during its original run.
Their onscreen partnership as a trio began when James May joined Top Gear in 2003, following Clarkson and Hammond’s start in 2002.
After 22 years of working together, their professional relationship concluded with their final The Grand Tour special, One for the Road, which aired in 2024.
They seem to spend a lot of time together off-screen, but are also known for their banter and have often made digs at one another.
This has led fans to wonder whether they are really friends, and May set the record straight when he spoke to the Daily Mail in November 2025.
He said: “It’s funny because they were workmates, but they were significant in my life. I think of it in terms of if we’d been at school at the same time, we’d have been in rival gangs.
“There would have been a healthy respect for each other, but we wouldn’t have fitted in each other’s gangs. The three of us are quite different people.”
He confirmed he had seen Hammond fairly recently and said he was “pleased Clarkson’s Farm was doing well”.
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