Celebrity chef Antony Worrall Thompson says he is not against Covid vaccinations, despite a sign being displayed in his pub near Henley welcoming unvaccinated people.

BBC reports say a sign made by an anti-vaccine group was put up at The Greyhound in the village of Rotherfield Peppard.

The sign read: “We do not discriminate. Race, gender, age, disability, vaccinated or unvaccinated. Everyone equal here. Everyone welcome.”

Mr Worrall Thompson, who said he is triple vaccinated, clarified that he was in favour of vaccinations but said he would continue to show the sign while removing any reference to the anti-vaccination group.

He told the BBC: “I agree with people getting vaccinated. I’m not an anti-vaxxer... to me if you don’t want to get vaccinated, if you don’t want to put chemicals into your body, it has to be your choice.”

He continued: “I’m doing it [having the sign up] because I don’t want to discriminate against anyone.

“At the end of the day we’ve done our time, we’ve done two years of this, lockdowns and various things and precautions, and I think it’s time to move on.”

He said he does not view the displaying of the sign as “irresponsible”.

“I don’t think it’s irresponsible at all. You know you have the choice. Freedom of choice to get vaccinated, freedom of choice to come to The Greyhound.”

The NHS says vaccines are safe and the best protection against Covid-19.

Dr Rachel Ward, based at Woodlands Medical Centre in Didcot, told the BBC she was concerned the sign would encourage people not to get vaccinated.

She added: "In the UK there is no law for the majority of people to get vaccinated, but it is important to remember if you do not want to be vaccinated it has a much more far reaching effect on society other than just whether you are welcomed into your local pub."

Mr Worrall Thompson opened his first restaurant, Ménage à Trois, in Knightsbridge in 1981, notable for only serving starters and puddings.

He made his first television appearance on BBC2's Food and Drink, before appearing on Ready Steady Cook from 1994 and appeared in the second series of I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!, which led to him replacing Gregg Wallace as the host of BBC2's Saturday Kitchen.

He later presented the ITV series Saturday Cooks and appeared on the BBC's Great British Menu.

The Oxford Mail has contacted The Greyhound for comment.