British bookstore owner slammed for 50 pence ‘browsing fee’
LONDON — A British bookshop owner who asks customers for a 50-pence (62-cent) browsing fee has been branded “the bookseller from hell.”
Steve Bloom, who runs second-hand emporium Bloomingdales in Hawes, northern England, says he makes the request to find out whether visitors are serious about buying books, but does not actually collect the money.
He also apologized for using an expletive in describing a customer who ignored the fee request as a pain in the backside.
John Blackie, chairman of Hawes Parish Council, said the customer complained — one of more than 20 complaints the local authority has received in the past four years about Bloom’s entry fee and his rudeness.