James May has revealed he’s having his “busiest year” in a decade - just months after the end of The Grand Tour.
The presenter, 62, cut ties with long-time co-stars Jeremy Clarkson and Richard Hammond with the finale of their Amazon Prime Video series last year.
The trio ended their working relationship last summer for the first time since they began hosting Top Gear in 2003.
May has now said his career has been thriving since their farewell, so much so that he’s been putting off retiring.
“I’ve been thinking about my retirement since I was a teenager,” he told the i Paper.
“2025 was going to be my trial retirement year, but I’ve been accepted to speak at a couple of history festivals and charity events, I’ve got two TV series and then I’m doing a live show in Australia, New Zealand and around the UK.”
May continued: “This is the busiest year I’ve had for about a decade. I haven’t had a day off in months.”
Both May and Clarkson have turned to hospitality in recent years, with May opening The Royal Oak pub in Salisbury in 2014, while Clarkson opened The Farmer’s Dog in Oxfordshire last August.
Clarkson joked at the time that May wouldn’t visit his pub, but their co-host Hammond would.
“I can see them whenever I want,” he said on Times Radio, when asked if he misses May and Hammond
Considering whether they might make a trip to his pub, he said: “James probably won’t, but Richard will. I talked to Richard only yesterday. We’re mates and we’ll still see them.
“We couldn’t possibly have imagined we’d be together 22 years when we started out. And so it’s a wrench, thinking, ‘God, we’re never going to do that again.’”
May, Clarkson and Hammond fronted beloved BBC motoring show Top Gear from 2003 until 2015 and the trio went on to host The Grand Tour on Prime Video until last year.
The Grand Tour ended after six series with its special final episode, One For The Road.
May later said it was time for a “new generation” to helm the show.
"We’d exhausted the subject, we are getting on a bit. I believe it’s time for a new generation to find a new take - I don’t know what it is,” he said on Sunday Brunch in February.
When asked by host Simon Rimmer if the decision felt right, he said: "Yes, I think so. You can’t overstay your welcome. You’re supposed to leave the audience wanting more. It’s the rule of show business."
