Harry Styles fans can now sign up for guided tours around the Cheshire village where he grew up, including the site where he had his first kiss and the bakery he once worked at after school.
When the pop singer, 30, first shot to fame with One Direction after competing on reality TV show The X Factor, he described his home town as “quite boring”, albeit “picturesque”.
But in the years since, as he achieved further fame as a solo artist with hits such as “Watermelon Sugar” and “As It Was”, the village has grown accustomed to visits from devoted “Harries” (Harry Styles fans).
The not-for-profit Holmes Chapel Partnership has recruited a group of superfans to lead the tours, which will take place through summer.
Organisers hope the tours will improve safety in the area and avoid the small parish from becoming overwhelmed by foot traffic.
The Holmes Chapel Partnership said that more than 5,000 fans visited the village 2023, close to the population of 6,700.
Tickets for the first round of tours, which cost £20 per head, go on sale today (Thursday 30 May).
One of the main attractions is Mandeville’s bakery, where Styles worked as a teenager after school and on Saturdays. A life-sized cut out of the singer in his uniform is on display for fans who wish to take selfies.
Bakery owner Simon Wakefield told the BBC that he was a “really nice lad, so easy and down-to-earth”.
When Styles won an audition for The X Factor, he apparently 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.”
Another hotspot is the 180-year-old Twemlow Viaduct, where Styles had his first kiss and where he wrote his name while filming the 2013 One Direction documentary, This is Us.
Fans wishing to leave their own messages are encouraged to write on slate hearts, which they can buy from a local retailer.
Peter Whiers, chairman of the Holmes Chapel Partnership, said the organisation loved the “enthusiasm people have for Harry” when first announcing plans for the tours.
However, he said it was important to balance fan excitement and curiosity with 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 tour guides will work in pairs and trained to lead Styles fans in groups of up to 16 people through the walking map. They will run on Saturday mornings from 8 June and on weekdays between July to September.
