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A literary tour company featuring the talents of stars such as Richard E Grant, Downton Abbey's Hugh Bonneville and Celia Imrie has branded the residents of the Isle of Wight as 'miserable, whining tightwads.'

Literatours was behind a series of tours around the Isle of Wight, with top actors narrating a journey uncovering the island's rich literary heritage.

The island has been home to literary greats and was a regular haunt for many of Britain's most celebrated writers. The tour stopped at literary locations frequented by icons including Charles Dickens, Lewis Carroll and Jane Austen, as well as the likes of Karl Marx and Sir Winston Churchill.

Hugh Bonneville of Downton Abbey fame and actor and director Richard E Grant are involved with Literatours

This year it hosted the third Isle of Wight Literary Festival, with a diverse line-up from the likes of actor Simon Callow, politician Ann Widdecombe, food writer Jay Rayner and former glamour model, turned best-selling author Katie Price.

But the island's literary credentials suffered a blow this week when Literatours announced it was scrapping the tours, laying the blame squarely at the feet of islanders.

A message on the company website stated: 'There will be no more public Literatours. Only privately booked Literatours will be run in the future.

'This is due to people living on the Isle of Wight being miserable, whining tightwads.'

The Literatours website pulled no punches about the reason for cancelling the Isle of Wight Tours

And the club's Facbook page went one step further poking yet more disdain at the islanders

A post on the official Facebook page went further.

'The Isle of Wight inhabitants made Dickens count the days until he left and they drove Tennyson and Priestly back to London.

'Beautiful place - shame about the people,' it stated.

The messages have since been removed and the company has not responded to requests for a comment.

Celia Imrie helped launch Literatours on the Isle of Wight in 2013

Local historian and writer Dr Brian Hinton hit out at the comments.

'The list of literary giants who spent time on the island goes on and on. They were drawn here by its isolation and its beauty, none of them came for the coach tours.

'Dickens wrote David Copperfield in Bonchurch and Henry James described it as the perfect village.

'The world came to be at the feet of the poet David Gascoigne when he moved to the Isle of Wight. DH Lawrence had a wonderful summer here and Keats wrote 'A thing of beauty is a joy forever' while looking out at Carisbrooke Castle.

Names from art and literature like Jonathon Meades, come to the Isle of Wight to celebrate its heritage

Isle of Wight-born actress Sheila Hancock at the island's Literary Festival 2014

'The only thing that ever drove Tennyson away was the tourists and he would always come back to the Island.

'More recently it has been home to the likes of Oscar-winning director and screen-writer Anthony Minghella and the wonderful Philip Norman.'

Award-winning Isle of Wight-based children's author Philip Bell said there was a thriving literary scene on the island.

'There are some very creative and thriving groups and a number of established published authors here,' he said.