19/04: The Three Cups - Lyme Regis
The Three Cups at Lyme Regis is a beautiful Georgian building. It was where J.R.R. Tolkien wrote much of ‘The Hobbit’ and ‘The Lord of the Rings’. Celebrated literary figures such as GK Chesterton visited there and it was the scene in 1981 of several film sequences of the iconic ‘The French Lieutenant’s Woman’. This building has been shut by the owners, and left empty, for a period of nearly twenty years. The building continues to dilapidate and has become an “eyesore”.
The Old Swan at Toller Porcorum, Dorset, the pub suddenly shut, and despite a Govt Inspector ruling that the pub was indeed viable the proprietor decided to leave it boarded up, dilapidating over the years in front of the community whose £ revenues had kept it going throughout the centuries - and with the community keenly arguing for a sale of it, or at the least the re-opening of it. This is a purely wasted closure – it appears the owner has preferred to allow it to be non-revenue-earning for over ten years and to let it dilapidate.
19/04: The White Hart - Beaminster
The White Hart at Beaminster occupies the area in the town where there was an old coaching house some 400 years ago. Today it has been shut for around five years while the owners seek particular planning permission. The historic ‘Hine Bar’ is sadly gone, and the hotel is empty, the signs are down and there is a danger of building dilapidation
