A DERELICT town centre restaurant could re-open later this year.

The Rajah, an Indian eatery in the Market Cross in Malmesbury, has been closed since 2016 – but Meherul Haque, one of the owners of the restaurant, has revealed to The Standard that he hopes to re-open the business later this year.

The Grade II listed building has deteriorated since The Rajah closed in 2016, with residents labelling the restaurant an eyesore in the town.

Malmesbury resident Mary Ray Smith is among those concerned for the condition of the building.

Speaking to the Standard, she said: “Why has what looks like a 16th century building in the centre of the town been abandoned and left derelict for the past several years?

“It can’t be doing what is a listed building any good to be let go like this, not to mention how it makes the town appear to our visitors.

“Surely the owners should be made to do something about it.

“If it has stood there since the 1500s, then surely it should be saved.

“Allowing this centre-of-town ancient structure to go derelict is baffling.”

When asked about residents’ concerns for the building, Mr Haque said “I am working on that right now.”

A spokesman for Malmesbury Town Council said it was seeking a solution to revitalise the listed building.

Town councillor John Gundry said: “The town council is well aware of and deplores the deterioration of this building in a prominent position in the town.

“However if the owner does not take matters in hand, the route to any official remedy is complicated and lengthy, as we learned with the dilapidated buildings in Oxford Street.

“We have nonetheless been working with Gavin Grant our Wiltshire councillor to see where a solution might lie.”

Cllr Grant, a Wiltshire county councillor for Malmesbury, said action was needed to improve the state of the building.

“I was a big fan of The Rajah," he told the Standard. “The restaurant needs to re-open or be sold.

“This important building at the heart of our town must not stay derelict.”

Wiltshire Council was contacted for a comment but did not respond before the Standard went to print.