He has been described as the ‘Basil Fawlty of booksellers’; a shopkeeper so rude that councillors want to run him out of town. Steve Bloom’s problems with his customers largely stem from his insistence in charging them 50p just to enter his small bookshop Bloomindales in the quaint village of Hawes in the Yorkshire Dales. In four years the parish council has received 20 letters and phone calls of complaint. One customer was so incensed at his treatment, he is said to have tipped his dinner over Mr Bloom. On another occasion, Mr Bloom called police when a visitor refused to pay the entry fee. Contacted at his remote stone-built cottage near Settle, Mr Bloom remained defiant. He said: “I am not really a people person, I say what I think, I don’t butter my parsnips. “That said I don’t believe I am very rude, maybe low to medium rude if pushed. “The council have gone completely over the top on this issue and it has assumed a far greater importance than it ever should have.
