THE Three Cups Hotel is to get a multi-million pound renovation incorporating a top-name restaurant.

The long-awaited revamp will also see shops and high-end apartments in the Grade II-listed Lyme Regis hotel.

Owner Palmers Brewery has this week exclusively revealed the plans to the News and confirmed specialist architects are now being appointed.

Nigel Jones, the brewery’s property agent at Humberts Commercial, said: “The proposals will be fully discussed at an early stage with the local community but are hoped to include commercial facilities including a significant restaurant which will attract an operator of national reputation.

“We are not looking for a chain of Wimpy bars, we are looking for a Rick Stein, a real name. We are looking potentially at having a restaurant at the back, in addition to what we do at the front.”

Mr Jones said the front would be commercial space, either retail or a use that requires ground floor presence.

High-quality apartments will go on the upper floors, and Mr Jones insists they will not be holiday apartments.

He added: “The scheme is going to be potentially millions of pounds.”

The announcement comes following a renewed campaign to bring the dilapidated Broad Street building back into use, after lying empty for 19 years.

Community Alert on Pubs, a campaign to save West Dorset pubs, has led to the formation of a dedicated Save the Three Cups group in Lyme, which holds its first meeting tomorrow at 7.15pm in Woodmead Halls.

Lobbyists have welcomed the announcement but remain sceptical. Marcus Dixon, of the Save the Three Cups group, said: “On the one hand it is obviously good to hear that there is an indication that things are about to happen and architect plans are a good first step.

“However, I think we need a schedule with some agreed key milestones so that we know this isn’t just a good idea that simply evaporates and we are left with a derelict building for years to come.”

John Grantham, leader of Community Alert, added: “Palmers’ track record of actually carrying out any of their promises on the Three Cups in the past has been woeful.”

But Mr Jones said pre planning application discussions are already underway with West Dorset District Council.

The campaigners have also criticised the decision not to retain the Three Cups as a hotel.

Mr Dixon said: “Turning it into apartments is a way of making a lot of money very quickly and that is basically what is behind this.”

Mr Grantham added the town cannot keep up with the demand for hotel rooms, and Lyme Regis loses an estimated £1,500 for each day that the Three Cups remains shut.

n The meeting on Friday will be chaired by Mr Dixon and speakers include David Parker, chairman of the Lyme Regis Hotel and Restaurant Association, and West Dorset MP Oliver Letwin.