PALMERS Brewery has revealed possible plans to revamp the long-derelict Three Cups Hotel.

The town has been calling on the Bridport brewery to bring the Broad Street Hotel back into use, having been closed for more than 20 years.

Now the brewery’s sales and marketing development manager Cleeves Palmer has revealed they are considering having retail space on the ground floor and accommodation above.

Town Mayor Sally Holman said Mr Palmer discussed the hotel’s future during a ‘gourmet tour’ of West Dorset for civic leaders.

Coun Holman said: “He said they have got plans for retail on the ground floor and accommodation above.

“It was all very vague and it hasn’t come back to the council in any official way yet. But he said they are dealing with Seatown first, before they get to Lyme Regis.”

Palmers is currently concentrating its efforts on The Anchor Inn in Seatown and has submitted 10 planning applications since 1989 to extend the building, all of which have been withdrawn or refused.

Lyme Regis Town Council has in the past considered making a compulsory purchase order on the building and plans to re-locate the library there have also been considered by Dorset County Council, although neither have come to anything.

Coun Holman said: “We have pushed so much for meetings with Palmers over this and we don’t get anywhere.”

Nigel Jones, of Humbert’s, the brewery’s commercial property agents, refused to confirm the plans this week. He said: “We are looking at a number of options but nothing has been taken any further forward in a significant way.”

The Lyme Regis Society said it would have no objection to the plans if they go ahead. Vice-chairman and head of planning Stephen Wilkins said: “We would be delighted to see the Three Cups return to the land of the living. We would want to have a look at the small print first, especially for the retail side of it.

“How about the tourist information centre and the library going in there?”

But the news has not been welcomed by Andrew Townsend, a member of the Tolkien Society, an organisation dedicated to Lord of the Rings author JRR Tolkien, who stayed at the Three Cups on a number of occasions.

Mr Townsend said: “I would be disappointed if the Three Cups did not reopen as a hotel with a restaurant and bar for non-residents on the ground floor. I believe that a fully functioning traditional hotel is the only way that the building can achieve its full commercial potential and the best way for it to contribute to the overall attraction of Lyme Regis as a tourist destination and a place to live.

“The hotel was famous for many years for its starring role in the film of The French Lieutenant's Woman. More recently, the fact that JRR Tolkien wrote some of his most famous books while staying at the hotel would be a great attraction for fans of The Lord of The Rings films.

“There should be a blue plaque outside to commemorate that. There should also be plaques to signify that Lord Tennyson and GK Chesterton stayed there.”