The old Three Cups Hotel in Lyme Regis has been empty for 36 years, and a Dorset reader says the building should no longer be left unused.

The reader said that if the property is not going to be used as a business, it should be sold as commercial premises or turned into housing instead.

“The owner should be encouraged to sell the property or the local authority should compulsorily purchase it for housing local people,” the reader said.

The comment reflects frustration over a building that has stood empty since 1989 or 1990, with no sign in the information provided that any sale or purchase process is under way. The old Three Cups Hotel remains the focus of the complaint because, in the reader’s view, a long-vacant site in the middle of Lyme Regis should not be allowed to stay idle when local housing is still needed.

What happens next is straightforward: unless the owner chooses to sell, or a local authority moves to buy the property, the old hotel is likely to remain as it is — empty, visible and still prompting calls for action from people who live nearby.