Plans to revitalise the Three Cups Hotel site Lyme Regis received an enthusiastic response at a public consultation held by Palmers Brewery on 15 September.

The event attracted 188 attendees, who left 106 written comments on the options for the Broad Street site. There were more comments in favour of the plans than against, with the proposal for beach hut-style letting rooms proving a clear preference.

John Palmer, managing director of Palmers Brewery, said: ‘I would like to thank everybody who attended the exhibition. Your comments and suggestions will help shape the future of the site and are an essential part of the ongoing consultation process. I know that people have been frustrated by the lack of progress with The Three Cups over the last 20 years, but we had to wait until the land stabilisation programme was complete.

‘Now that we can move ahead, Palmers wants to make a long-term investment in this site to develop it in the best way possible for Lyme’s future, thereby demonstrating our commitment to the town. In view of the significant cost of developing this site, there will not be any short-term return for us.

‘We investigated the cost of reconverting the Three Cups building into a hotel, but there was a gap of nearly £3M between cost and income, as verified by an independent consultants’ report. No business could afford to lose money on that scale.

‘After more than seven months of consultation with town and district councillors and planners, and talks with the Save The Three Cups as a Hotel group, we prepared a basic scheme with three options. These were presented at the public consultation last week, with the option for beach hut-style letting rooms on site emerging as a clear favourite.

‘We will now continue our consultation with town and district councillors and planners in the light of the comments received at the exhibition.

‘There will be a second public consultation on the plans in a few months time, giving everyone the chance to see how we have responded so you can comment again before we make a planning application in early 2011.’