SIR, I recently visited the Lake District and called in for a drink in Ambleside.

My wife and I paid for two pints of beer.

The price was £2 per pint.

We decided to have another half a pint each and I got out £2, only to be asked for £2.10.

When I asked why, I was told that half was £ 1.05.

I asked what would be the price if the barman tipped both halves into one glass, and was told £2.

At this point I told the barman what he could do with his beer.

There is a word for this; it is racketeering.

I would have thought that with the lack of visitors to the Lake District this sort of behaviour would have changed.

My wife and I lived in the Lake District National Park for six years.

When asked why we left such a lovely place, we usually reply, we became tired of being ripped off, and chose to live somewhere more reasonable.

There does not appear to have been any change brought about by the foot-and-mouth crisis.

Robert Buckley

Keighley