A WAREHAM town centre hotel could be brought back into use, although on a smaller scale, with parts of the site converted to homes.

The Red Lion, on the town centre crossroads, has suffered a number of business failures over the years with advisers suggesting a smaller hotel with a 50-seat restaurant, created from converting the former public house section of the complex.

Proposals submitted to Dorset Council for planning consent suggest the adjoining 1 North Street being returned to a private house with the former stables, West Street hotel extension and a former meeting room being sub-divided into three separate homes with the yard and four of the existing six parking spaces being given over to the residents of the homes.

A number of internal changes are being proposed including a new reception area, the hotel staircase, which is partitioned at first floor level, being returned to its former grandeur and hotel rooms being altered back to their original size, making them bigger.

In order the create the new reception area architects say they will reinstate what was once the North Street doorway, while a toilet block to the rear of the building will be demolished with a smaller kitchen allowing ugly ducting to be removed.

Local architects Morgan Carey say the building, which is grade 1 listed, was significantly rebuilt after the Wareham fire of 1762 and sits within the town Conservation Area as part of a group of listed buildings, opposite the Town Hall.

Said their design statement: “The proposals will seek to revive the building and restore its functional use in order to avoid its further decline. The task is broad and requires that the commercial elements of the proposal be viable and sustainable. The previous commercial operations have been of a comparatively large scale for Wareham and the building has suffered from periodic business failures.”

Full details of the application, with public comments open until January 20th, can be seen on the Dorset Council website – ref 2023/07157.