Hippies, hikers, kooky cafes, drugs and lesbians: my home town of Hebden Bridge in West Yorkshire is notorious for many reasons, some more surprising than others.
With an almost complete absence of chain stores and an abundance of independent and distinctly creative businesses, this tiny town of just 4,500, along the Pennine Way between Manchester and Leeds, is consistently named among the best in the Great British High Street competition. Alternative clothing, fair-trade treats, homemade jewellery and unusual souvenirs can all be found on the former mill town’s cobbled streets, with their soot-kissed sandstone and overflowing hanging baskets.
