BARONS of Hindhead has confirmed the acquisition of The Spaniard Inn site on the southbound stretch of the A3, near Liphook, for its new-look dealership.

The luxury car seller bought the site at the beginning of last year from Clarke Gammon Wellers for a reputed £1m and is planning to spend a substantial amount relocating the current showroom on the old London Road to the new location.

The building has been in a derelict state for many years, propped up by scaffolding and considered an eyesore, but contrary to popular belief it is not listed.

Peter Wakefield, Barons’ head of business, said: “We put up our sign on the site about three weeks ago and are currently going through various stages of the pre-application process with East Hampshire District Council as well as Hampshire highways department.

“Once we have cleared everything up, we plan to arrange some form of presentation for people, as well as Bramshott and Liphook Parish Council, who will receive the application in due course for their comments and recommendations.

“We really want to encourage comments from people and hear about their ideas. The land at The Spaniard Inn is a brownfield site but would not get planning permission for houses, which has been refused in the past. It is also not big enough for a business site and therefore is limited for development.

“By relocating our business from Hindhead, where it has been for 30 years, we are making a compromise.

“We plan to move the showroom for BMWs and Minis, the service centre, as well as the parts department to The Spaniard Inn site – and storage and the bodyshop to another site nearby.

“Our site at Hindhead is owned by Barons and will be closed, once we are able to relocate fully."

Mr Wakefield continued: “There will be benefits, as we are currently employing 70 people, who are mostly local, which will increase to 100 people once we open the new showroom.

“It was important for us to find a suitable, central location which is easily accessible by customers from East Hampshire, West Sussex and Surrey, and we have been looking to relocate for the last three years.”

Mr Wakefield added that the inn was now collapsing so temporary fencing had been put and all open manholes had been covered to make the site as safe as possible for now.

He said: “We hope to earn the support from people locally for our proposals, once we are able to present them in public.

“Since Barons have been at Hindhead for 30 years – and because there is a long local connection to The Spaniard Inn – we will be putting together an historic exhibition of old photographs and details of both and are currently looking for more pictures to add.”

The Spaniard Inn has a chequred history and it is claimed to have been a refuge for a notorious highwayman known as ‘Jack’ who carried out robberies along the Portsmouth Road.

Body snatchers are also said to have used the building’s cellars, which are reputedly still haunted.

In more recent years, the shed at the rear of the building was used by Fleetwood Mac, then an unknown group, for practice.

In the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s it became The Seven Thorns Hotel and was a busy stop-off point for coaches coming out of London en route to the South Coast, before it became known as The Spaniard and was turned into a nightclub called The Ravens.

In the late 1980s, the building suffered extensive damage from a fire and has remained in a derelict state ever since.