Japanese Visitors Fault Haworth

The Yorkshire world of the Bronte sisters reportedly is in shock after its most important customers have dismissed it as one big complacent, tourist-fleecing teashop.

A consortium of Japanese travel groups, whose good will is so crucial to the village of Haworth’s $30 million visitor trade that footpaths are marked in Japanese, said in a survey that there’s insufficient variety. The travel agents’ main complaint on behalf of bus tours is the sheer number of tearooms and souvenir shops offering unoriginal goods.

To think, in her day Charlotte Bronte had been confident the grittiness of the area would put people off. The Guardian quotes her as writing: “Our rude hills and rugged neighborhood will form a barrier to the frequent repetition of visits.”