THE notorious Spaniard Inn on the A3, at Bramshott Chase, has been sold for more than £1million by Haslemere estate agents Clarke Gammon Wellers.

A firm’s spokesman said plans to turn the building, located on the southbound section of the A3, into an upmarket car dealership are under discussion. The new owners intend to spend several million pounds completely refurbishing the site and will unveil plans in the coming weeks.

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

It has a checkered history and is said to have been a refuge for a notorious highwayman known as ‘Jack’ who carried out robberies along the Portsmouth Road and body snatchers are said to have used the building’s cellars.

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

In the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s 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.