VISITORS and residents in Burley will now have the opportunity to be barked at by two shopkeepers, dubbed Britain’s rudest.

Business partners Terry Palfrey, 63 and Geoff Kemp, 61, are moving from Palfrey & Kemp Fords in Lymington to the Burley Coach House gift shop in The Cross.

They are taking their title of the country’s rudest shopkeepers with them.

But they say a sign on the door will warn customers of their attitude, and those who aren’t prepared can choose to shop elsewhere.

The duo scoff at the notion that “the customer is always right” and have built up a wild reputation and a large following of loyal punters who return time and time again for the short shrift doled out by their prickly personas.

The banter is mostly a bit of light-hearted fun, but sometimes they won’t hold back on directing honest barbs at unpleasant customers.

Mr Palfrey said: “If people don’t fit in and play by the rules, we tell them to go and don’t come back.

“We usually visit Burley Coach House on Saturdays and believe me, we turn the quiet shop into uproar when we arrive.

“We can be very abrasive and downright rude,” he is quick to admit.

“The people of Burley are certainly going to have to get used to our business manner.”

Mr Palfrey and Mr Kemp’s short tempers received notoriety after a visit from a cold-calling salesman who overheard an exchange of words between a customer and a member of staff.

Mr Kemp said: “The conversation turned into a fracas because a snooty customer called one of our staff members ‘stupid’.

“We asked her to leave immediately.

“That’s when the sales rep decided to label us the rudest shopkeepers he’d ever met and the tag has just stuck with us really.”

The jovial characters host the Fabulous Fifties Show on Forest FM in Verwood and are planning a Route 66 Mother Road Radio Tour next June.

Mr Palfrey and Mr Kemp will set off from Chicago on June 6, 2013 with the city’s WRLR radio station for a 30-day trip, during which they will make weekly broadcasts.

“If we don’t get the support we need, we will have to tell everyone we are crawling the distance, swearing at passers-by,” Mr Palfrey laughed.

In the meantime, if you fancy a mouthful get yourself into the Burley Coach House and clank the country wine bottles or fiddle with the fudge and wait for the sharp edge of their tongues.