Steve Bloom, who runs Bloomindales in the Yorkshire Dales, asks customers for a 50p entry fee and has received more than 20 complaints about rudeness

A secondhand bookshop owner who has received more than 20 complaints about his rudeness has admitted he was wrong to call a customer a “pain in the arse”.

Steve Bloom, who runs Bloomindales in the Yorkshire Dales, has been criticised for asking visitors for a 50p entry fee, with the chairman of Hawes parish council branding him “the bookseller from hell”.

Bloom, who described himself as “not really a people person”, said the council had given the issue more importance than it deserved.

The 63-year-old admitted he should not have called a customer, who went on to complain to the council about his welcome, “a pain in the arse”.

At his home near Settle, North Yorkshire, he added: “I regretted it as soon as I said it.

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“He arrived just as I was closing, but I allowed him to go in and browse around. But he ignored me completely when I asked for my 50p, which didn’t help things at all.”

He explained his policy of asking customers for 50p was a way of finding out whether they were serious or not, and that he did not actually take the money. Hawes parish councillors discussed the shop five times since 2013, and chair John Blackie said the “dreadfully rude and offensive” bookseller was a discredit to the market town.

Blackie said: “He is doing a disservice to the other traders, to the reputation of the town, which is very much a friendly town. We welcome people to come and visit us.”

Blackie said Bloom seemed to enjoy the notoriety, and did not seem bothered by criticism online. One comment on the Yell website said other shoppers “recoiled in embarrassment” when the reviewer was asked to leave while browsing postcards, having refused to pay 50p. Another gave only one star out of five, and said that he and his wife received a very rude reception and they were asked to pay the entry fee, returnable on purchase of a book.

The bookshop is based in Hawes Market House, which is a charity – and although complaints had been passed on to the building’s trustees, there had been no change, said Blackie.

The parish council chair said he would visit Bloom again and urge him to be polite. Blackie will urge the Market House trustees to put pressure on Bloom to mend his ways, or warn him he could be thrown out.

“He can see the great difficulties, the upset that he causes in the local community,” Blackie said.

“He might be better off trying a charm offensive. If you charm them more and offend them less, you might have a business even better than it is now, and we can all live happily ever after.”