Plans for Palmers-owned Three Cups in Lyme Regis scrapped

It has just been announced that, due to 'rising costs,' Palmers has been 'forced' to seek a partner for the redevelopment of The Three Cups and will have to 'revise' the current plans.

In a statement, Nigel Jones, development consultant for Palmers Brewery, said: "Following very detailed consideration of all the potential routes to carry out the long awaited redevelopment of the Three Cups former hotel in Lyme Regis, the freehold owners, J C and R H Palmer Ltd, have decided to seek a partner for the scheme and pursue a revised development proposal to that for which planning approval has been granted and in part implemented.

"Rising costs of development over the recent past has meant that the approved scheme is unviable, and whilst the company are keen to see a first class development - including some of the constituent parts of the approved scheme - it believes that by introducing a partner into the project at this stage it will provide the best and quickest way forward for a successful scheme to be delivered."

Back in March, the News reported the brewery was working on plans to restore the former hotel.

The Grade II-listed hotel, on Broad Street, closed in May 1990 and permission had been granted in 2015 to redevelop the site, with retail units, a restaurant, as well as visitor and private accommodation included in the plans. 

But, due to an ‘increase in the cost of building materials,’ the works were not carried out and it fell into a derelict state.

Palmers revealed a different, scaled-back plans for the hotel in 2020 with work planned to start in 2021.

READ: Palmers reveals scaled-back plans for Three Cups in Lyme Regis

The hotel was famously used in the making of the 1981 film The French Lieutenant’s Woman, starring Jeremy Irons and Meryl Streep.

Notable names  understood to have stayed at the landmark hotel include: J. R. R. Tolkien, Alfred Lord Tennyson, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Hilaire Belloc, and G.K. Chesterton.