Sir, – I have read the letter of G Matthews in your edition of July 25.

Running a similar shop (antiques) in Hawes, my sympathies lie strongly with the proprietor of the bookshop.

What Mrs Matthews fails to appreciate is that Hawes has become something of a theme park, where ill-clad and often obese members of the public form in great numbers (with and without dogs) and feel free to treat the more interesting shops as a mere extension of the public pavement. Most have no intention of buying anything. They are there, if they have any fixed intention at all, simply for free entertainment.

The dialogue recounted in Mrs Matthews' letter is simply the expression of the bookshop proprietors' frustration of witnessing this spectacle day in and day out. It is this well-meant attempt to distinguish those with some genuine interest in buying a book, from those with no such intention. I would urge Mrs Matthews to see it in this way, rather than any gratuitous rudeness.

Maybe a better solution might be to sell the whole of Hawes to Disneyland, who could charge a fee to people entering the town. The shop proprietors could all dress up as Mickey Mouse etc to entertain the visitors and receive a small wage for so doing, and we would not run the risk of offending Mrs Matthews' principles.

Incidentally, Mrs Matthews's bold assertion that "good second-hand bookshops abound in England" is entirely in error. Hundreds have closed in the last ten years, beaten by Amazon and public imports. Indeed, the proprietor in Hawes ought to be awarded some sort of civic honour for being brave enough to venture against this tide of national closure.

ROBERT PALEY

Hawes.