A feud that has simmered for years between two North London shopkeepers erupted last week when one called the other a Nazi and ended up being warned by police about his behaviour.

Nussan Gutstein admitted that he had made the remark about his neighbour Laurence Stoll, but said: "He is a horrible man who has persecuted me for years. I did call him a Nazi because he behaves like one. " Mr Stoll retorted: "This man asked someone passing my shop, ‘What's the Nazi doing now?' I asked him if he said that and he said yes, so I called the police."

The men run their businesses yards apart in a shopping parade in Edgware, Middlesex. For 27 years, Mr Gutstein, 70, has run Pelters delicatessen. Mr Stoll, 46, opened his hairdresser's 19 years ago.

According to Mr Stoll, at first they got along well. But the pair fell out about 15 years ago, prior to Pesach, over where the hairdresser was going to buy matzot.

"He muttered something in Yiddish and that's when the broiges began. He apologised, but now he has started up again," said Mr Stoll. "This time I called the police, and two uniformed officers told him off."