U2 rock icon Bono stunned the residents of Chorlton with a surprise visit to the local book store on Saturday afternoon. Staff at Chorlton Bookshop in the Greater Manchester suburb were sworn to secrecy about the visit - after getting a phonecall the day before asking if Bono could come down.
They initially thought it "was a hoax" but the Irish rock 'n'roll star did indeed rock up on Saturday with his entourage and a film crew to the shock of staff and customers. And by all accounts he absolutely loved spending time inside.
He purchased no less than 30 books from the Chorlton shop after chatting with staff and fans and having a cuppa. And he was particularly partial to the home-baked parkin that book seller Bev offered him while he browsed the books.
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Bono was in town as part of his ongoing book tour, with the publication of his new autobiography Surrender: 40 Songs One Story. But before he spoke and sang to thousands of fans at Manchester Apollo on Saturday night for his one man show, he headed for the secret book signing in Chorlton first.
Staff were sworn to secrecy about his visit, and had thought he would just sit in the back signing copies of his book. But instead a jovial Bono spent an hour chatting with staff and fans who got wind of his arrival.
Book seller Jo Legerton, 49, from Timperley, said: "We were sworn to secrecy about it all. My colleague Deb got a phone call on the Friday afternoon asking if Bono could come and we immediately assumed it was a hoax.
"But they then sent us follow up emails and told us you must not tell anybody. Security came in Saturday morning and checked out where they were going to go, they decided they would come in through the back, and it was very clandestine at first.
"We just thought he was going to stay in the office and sign books and if one or two people popped in we'd do that. But when he arrived they said 'oh no he's going to come in the shop'.
"He was there for around 45 minutes. Before long around 30-40 people got wind of it, and he was great he walked around and talked to everybody."
Bookshop owner Victoria Johnson gifted Bono a book during his visit - Gratitude by Delphine de Vigan, while staff member Bev baked him parkin cake and they made him a cuppa. In pictures taken at the visit he's seen sipping from his cuppa while chatting to staff and fans.
Jo added: "One of our staff baked him some parkin and he absolutely loved it, he was calling it "Bev's parkin". We did a picture behind the counter and I offered him a job but he didn't want one!
"He was just lovely, everyone who was with him as lovely as well, just the nicest people. It's absolutely amazing that he chose us, this just doesn't happen in Chorlton does it?"
Jo said as word got round about his visit scores more fans turned up - but many just missed him as he left the shop to head back into Manchester. The bookshop phonelines have now gone crazy with fans desperate to get hold of a signed copy of his book but unsurprisingly they've swiftly sold out.
Jo said: "It was all a bit mad. The phone hasn't stopped ringing since Saturday. We had a limited number of signed copies that had all gone - they all went in the first hour really."
Staff were told by Bono's publicist that he's been choosing independent bookshops to visit in every city that he's been heading to on his book tour. Jo said: "He googled bookshops in Manchester and really liked the look of ours and said 'I'm going there'.
"We feel really special. People had been waiting at Waterstones for an hour, as fans presumed it would be there he woul go."
Chorlton Bookshop has been open for 40 years on Wilbraham Road and is known for its Edwardian exterior. Jo, 49, from Timperley has worked there for 16 years.
She said that Bono is by far the most famous visitor they've ever had.
Although it sounds like one regular shopper got a tad confused when she turned up on Saturday - and wondered what all the fuss was about. Jo laughed: "We had one regular who came in and said: 'who's that?' when she saw him. Because we were open as normal I think a few people were coming in and not expecting to see Bono stood there."
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