James May, known for his roles on Top Gear and The Grand Tour, co-owns The Royal Oak, a pub in Swallowcliffe, Wiltshire. The pub was named Best Local Pub in Wiltshire at the 2026 Muddy Stilettos Awards, which honours outstanding independent businesses across the counties.
History of The Royal Oak
The Royal Oak has been an inn since 1852. It closed in 2007 and remained unsold for seven years. Attempts to convert the building into private housing were rejected due to opposition from local residents. In 2015, three residents bought the property and reopened it. May purchased half ownership in 2020.
May splits his time between a home in Hammersmith, West London, and a rural retreat in Swallowcliffe. The pub's website describes it as having "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."
Friendship with Clarkson and Hammond
May, Jeremy Clarkson, and Richard Hammond worked together on Top Gear and The Grand Tour. Their partnership began when May joined Top Gear in 2003, following Clarkson and Hammond's start in 2002. Their final special, One for the Road, aired in 2024.
Speaking to the Daily Mail in November 2025, May 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." He added, "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."
