A WEB site supposed to attract tourists to Northallerton is being targeted by internet vandals.

The site, www.northallertonweb.co.uk, promotes businesses and tourist attractions and offers a diary of events and a guide to eating out.

An on-line guest book allows visitors to the site to leave comments about the town. More than 120 are logged, with tourists from as far afield as Canada and America praising Northallerton.

But an anonymous resident is using the guest book to air personal grumbles about prominent businesses and figures in the town.

George Crow, owner of several enterprises including the Golden Lion Hotel, Bar One Hundred and the Amadeus nightclub, is criticised in one e-mail. Another entry attacks the Fleece in the High Street.

One resident calling himself "Beardie" writes: "It's amazing how you can make one of the last rotten boroughs look quite pleasant. If you want to live in a town that looks after its residents, don't live here.

"The whole place is run by a select few landed and moneyed people for their own benefit. If you want good shopping, try Darlington or Middlesbrough - twice the choice and half the prices."

The same person also brands Bedale a "one horse town", on the group's sister site, bedale.com.

Jim Turnbull, chairman of Northallerton Chamber of Trade and owner of Atlantis Pet Supplies in the town centre, reacted angrily to the slurs.

"A very large percentage of the population is quite happy with Northallerton," he said. "If they weren't, then people would shop elsewhere and the results speak for themselves - this is a vibrant market town.

"Of course we are keen to see facilities improve and everybody is entitled to a point of view. But if these people are dissatisfied with certain businesses, they should go and see them rather than go the coward's way around it.

"If they don't like Northallerton, they should move."

A spokesman for Northallerton Web said: "We do endeavour to keep out anything which is too derogatory to businesses within the town, while at the same time allowing people to air their views or any constructive criticisms. At the end of the day our site exists to help promote the town and its business.

"It goes without saying that if any business or the town council contacted us regarding a guest book entry that they believed to be unfounded, we would of course delete that message without delay."

The web site can be accessed from Hambleton District Council's home page.

A spokesman for the council said: "We do have links set up in order to provide information, but while all the sites are checked from time to time, the council cannot be held responsible for the sites which are outside our control."

Anyone spotting rude comments on the Northallerton site can contact the council at info14, when Tony Thompso