British train stations are not known for their glamour, but the village of Holmes Chapel boasts a ritzier ticket office than most. Almost every inch of its modest square footage is covered with posters, merchandise and assorted memorabilia, all honouring the village’s former resident, the singer Harry Styles.
The eccentric decor reflects the previously sleepy building’s new status as an international tourism hub. “It was a lonely little place in here,” says station master Graham Blake, who remembers Styles making the weekly trip to London to film “The X Factor,” the talent show that launched the boy band One Direction and catapulted Styles to fame almost overnight. “But now, because of Harry — who put us on the map — I get to chat to people from all over the world.”
In 2023, more than 5,000 fans travelled to Holmes Chapel — a well-heeled community in rural Cheshire that dates back to the 13th century — to explore attractions such as the primary school that Styles attended as a child, and the bakery where he held his first Saturday job.
Inside the W. Mandeville bakery, where Harry Styles once worked as a teenager.
Harry’s Home Village TourFame, though, has not been without its casualties: The village’s historic Twemlow Viaduct, where the singer allegedly had his first kiss, has been turned into an unlikely shrine, with tourists often walking down a dangerously busy country road to cover its Grade II-listed walls with reverential graffiti.
This summer, the community group Holmes Chapel Partnership established an official Harry’s Home Village Tour, which guides fans along a traffic-free route to the site, stopping at several key village venues along the way. The tour is currently slated to run until the end of September. So far, hundreds of tickets (£15 to £20 each) have been sold, with profits set to support various local projects, and a road safety campaign centred on the viaduct has achieved 1.9 billion media impressions globally.
After an introduction at the station, the tour moves through the village, taking in its heritage hardware store and 15th-century church. At the W. Mandeville bakery, where a teenage Styles bagged up loaves of granary bread, a steady trickle of fans troops in to take photos with a life-size cardboard cut-out of the star in his old work uniform. They buy branded bags and aprons, and stock up on delicacies like the Watermelon Sugar cupcake — a nod to Styles’s hit single of the same name. According to bakery employees, the cakes sell out most days.
Considering the megawatt fame of its subject, the tour has a surprisingly provincial feel that would be easy to poke fun at, but its wholesome approach has instigated an important economic boost in a post-pandemic economy that remains a struggle for many small businesses.
“It’s created a really positive vibe around the village,” says tour guide Ben McCormick, 16, who was drawn to the opportunity to show off the village’s history. “I love where I live, so I just thought it would be nice to give the Harry fans my insight into Holmes Chapel.”
Slate hearts inscribed with personal messages from fans who have taken Harry’s Home Village Tour.
Photography by Gail Griggs HarryAt the viaduct, which is reached via a soggy trek across active farmland, tour participants leave offerings of slate hearts inscribed with personal messages (these are included in the ticket price in a bid to mitigate the risk of further graffiti). A quick scan reveals that people have come from all over the world. Katelyn Russell, 20, is one of the fans setting down her slate heart today — she has travelled from Wodonga, Australia, and is posing for pictures with a British friend she met via a Harry Styles TikTok fan account.
“I probably would have come here anyway,” says Russell, when asked if the launch of the official tour motivated her visit. “But it’s just amazing. It’s so good to see his home community getting behind it.” Meanwhile, Londoners Saffie Lawrence, 53, and Christine Stewart, 71, were intrigued about what the tour would offer from a subcultural perspective. Asked whether they would have made the pilgrimage to the village under their own steam, they laugh. “We’d never even heard of it!” says Lawrence.
But more and more people have. And with rumours flying of a new Harry Styles album in the works, Holmes Chapel had better get ready.
To join the conversation set a first and last name in your user profile.
Sign in or register for free to join the Conversation