EAST Hampshire District Council is still looking to find a tenant to take over the former Metro Inn site at the Liphook A3 services.

A council spokesman said the authority was currently in talks with a potential tenant it couldn’t name for businesses reasons.

This is the second time since October the council has said it is in talks with an anonymous business over leasing the hotel.

It was bought by the authority in November 2014 as part of its property investment programme.

The council claims the investment programme will eventually generate millions of pounds a year for the authority.

The budget hotel has been empty since July 24, 2017, when Metro Inns abruptly terminated its lease with the council.

At the time Metro spokesman Chris O’Neill said there had been long-running issues around the site.

He added: “It’s gone from us now, but East Hampshire District Council will have to do something with the building.

“The rent was too high and too much money needed to be spent on maintaining it. It’s a 30-year-old building and it had not been upgraded.”

On the same site as the hotel is a Starbucks coffee shop, which is also owned by the council.

Recently the district council splashed out £11.15m on an office block in Derby. The figure spent on Jubilee House – which is currently home to Rolls-Royce admin services – means the council’s property portfolio is now worth more than £105m.

Developed in 2001, the property – which totals 72,837 square feet and houses 300 employees – is the “perfect addition” to EHDC’s property portfolio, which generates £2m a year for public services, according to leader Richard Millard.

He said:“Our strategy focuses on buying high-quality commercial premises with blue-chip tenants. By carefully growing our well-balanced property portfolio, we can generate the income we need to maintain our excellent public services.”

The district council, which has a £200m loan agreement with the government-backed Public Works Loans Board, hopes to generate around £7m in profit once its borrow-to-buy portfolio is complete.

Recent acquisitions have included a £3.8m Tesco Express in Gloucestershire and properties in Northampton (£7.9m), Warwick (£13.25m), Alton (£1.085m) and Andover (£3.24m).