Lovestruck fans flock to Holmes Chapel tours

Fans of Harry Styles have long obsessed over every detail of his life, his romances and his childhood.

Now, Harries – as they’re known – are being offered guided walking tours of the Cheshire village where the pop sensation grew up.

Tickets go on sale on Thursday, with the tours starting next week.

But the BBC got a preview, alongside a group of teenage devotees. One of them, 17-year-old Jessie, said she was a “lifelong fan”.

She said it was “really exciting” to walk in the singer’s footsteps, taking in sites such as Twemlow Viaduct, where the singer had his first kiss, and Mandeville’s bakery, where he worked part-time.

The Holmes Chapel Partnership, which created the new walking route, hopes it will help to improve road safety in the area.

The not-for-profit organisation has recruited a group of superfans to lead the tours, which will take place throughout the summer.

Leading the sneak preview tour was Gillian Calbi, a 23-year-old from New Jersey, US, who is currently studying in Manchester; and Ben McCormick, 16, who lives in Holmes Chapel and attends Styles’ old school.

Gillian described it as her “dream job”, having been a dedicated fan of Styles for more than a decade.

“I’ve seen him now in concert 10 times, and in total 16 times including One Direction,” she said.

Ben described the application process as “tough”, explaining: “I’ve heard that hundreds of applicants applied.”

He didn’t think he would get the job, but won over the recruiters with his local knowledge.

“They clearly decided they were going to take a shot with me, just like Simon Cowell did with Harry.”

One of the first stops on the tour is the bakery.

It sells an array of bread-based goods and sweet treats. So far, so normal. But this is where Styles used to work as a teenager, after school and on Saturdays.

A life-sized cut-out of Styles in his Mandeville’s uniform is on display, and fans jostled to take selfies beside it.

Caitlin, 18, has been a Styles fan since she was just four years old. She jumped at the chance to visit his home village, saying: “You get to see where he started, where he lived, and all the people he’s met as well.”

For 27-year-old Leah, from Liverpool, it wasn’t her first trip to Holmes Chapel. In fact, she comes to the village every two weeks to take in Styles’ old haunts.

She hasn’t yet been lucky enough to run into the singer, though. “I’d love to catch a glimpse of him,” she said. “Fingers crossed.”

The man who hired Styles as a teenager, Mandeville’s owner Simon Wakefield, said he was “a really nice lad, so easy and down to earth”.

The budding singer always turned up on time, and was pleasant to customers, he revealed.

When Styles got an audition for The X Factor, he asked Wakefield if he could take a shift off. “I said, ‘Yeah no problem, go for it’,” Wakefield said.

“And it just erupted from there.

“It just goes to show it can happen to anyone, at any time.”

Styles soon became one of the biggest pop stars on the planet.

He shot to fame in the boy band One Direction before launching a successful solo career, with hits including Watermelon Sugar and As It Was.

When he first auditioned for The X Factor, he described his home village as “quite boring”, adding: “Nothing much happens there.”

But he did concede that Holmes Chapel was “picturesque”.

Now, the village has become a must-see for fans.

The Holmes Chapel Partnership said more than 5,000 fans visited in 2023 – almost equalling the village’s population of 6,700 – and they have previously taken in the Styles-related attractions pinpointed on its free maps.

Not all of the places where Styles used to hang out have made the new tour, however.

Fortune City, the Chinese restaurant where he took fellow superstar Taylor Swift on a date, was too far away to include, organisers said.

The 180-year-old Twemlow Viaduct is a must-see for Harries, and is on the tour.

Aside from being where the singer had his first kiss, it’s also where he famously wrote his name in the One Direction documentary, This is Us.

Fans have now covered Harry’s Wall, as it’s known, with their own messages to him.

On the tour, they are encouraged to write on slate hearts instead, which they pick up from retailer Sam Dale and Son along the route.

Georgia, 18, wrote on her slate: “Harry brought us together.”

She explained that she and best friend Charlotte had “really bonded over Harry”, and went to see him last year to celebrate their A-levels. “It was a really great experience,” she added.

Behind it all, there’s an important safety message.

The two-and-a-half hour tours, which cost £20 per head, were born out of Holmes Chapel Partnership’s campaign for safe walking routes throughout the village.

In the past, fans made their way to the viaduct by crossing a busy road, but locals say it’s dangerous.

By taking visitors on a traffic-free route, tour organisers hope to keep them safe.

When the tours were announced, Peter Whiers, chairman of the Holmes Chapel Partnership, said they loved the “enthusiasm people have for Harry”.

But he added it was a fine line to balance excitable fans and the reality of a “historic village that dates from the 1400s”.

“So this year we are taking a new route to keeping visitors safe by hosting guided tours to popular Harry locations,” he said.

The tours will run on Saturday mornings from 8 June, and on weekdays from July to September.