A MAN who ran a stall in Craven Court for over five years has been evicted after complaints about the standard of his attire.

Lee Gledhill ran the Magnet Carta, a stall that sold magnetic bracelets designed to relieve pain and inflammation.

"It's very baffling," said Mr Gledhill: "After five-and-a-half years of wearing the same attire, why is there suddenly a glut of complaints in such a short time?"

Metrus, the London-based property advisors that manage Craven Court, sent Mr Gledhill a letter telling him they had received a number of complaints about the standard of his attire.

The letter also asked him to dress suitably or his lettings agreement would be terminated.

Just over three weeks later on Thursday, June 11, he received letter from Metrus saying his agreement had been terminated with immediate effect. Mr Gledhill packed up his stall the next day.

"At first the complaints were anonymous and then they told me the complaints came from the shops," said Mr Gledhill. "I've got thousands of customers in the area and I've built up a great business here in Skipton.

"The locals will tell you that I'm polite and cheerful," said Mr Gledhill. "I'd help ladies with prams get up the stairs and help the oldies into the lift."

Mr Gledhill, who has sold the bracelets for 16 years, is now looking elsewhere for a place to set up his stall.

"This is bad for Skipton," he said. "The bigger companies are always trying to squeeze out the individual entrepreneurs - the people who are the lifeblood of this town."

Giles Loveday, director of property advisors Metrus, said: "We started to get complaints, and if we have complaints we have to consider and act on them. Most of the complaints were made by the shopkeepers or their area managers."

Mr Loveday said that although Craven Court did not have a dress code as such, Mr Gledhill's string vests and shorts were not appropriate.

"He was given an opportunity to change his attire, unfortunately he didn't and we had to act. It's very regrettable.

"We had to terminate the agreement in the best interest of the shops and the general public."

Mr Loveday said there were no immediate plans to replace Mr Gledhill's stall.