Our beautiful village is being ruined by tourists putting their lives at risk…we’ve been forced to take action
RESIDENTS in a beautiful village have said that their home is being ruined by tourists putting their lives at risk,
Locals in Holmes Chapel, Cheshire, live in fear their home will be “spoilt” and “overrun” by Harry Styles fans.
The 29-year-old singer’s dedicated fandom have arrived in droves as they clamour to see where their idol grew up.
The obsession resulted in a trail, which features many of Harry’s old haunts, including the bakery where he worked as a teenager before finding fame.
And superfans are even willing to risk their lives to reach a viaduct where Harry is said to have had his first kiss.
Harry, 29, was still a schoolboy at Holmes Chapel Comprehensive School when he rose to fame, aged 16, on the X Factor in 2010.
But his family were eventually driven out of the village as fans regularly camped outside the singer’s former home.
But there have been concerns after a growing number of fans were risking “life and limb” by walking along a busy road.
It is tradition for superfans to leave messages of love and support on the columns’ brickwork, known as ‘Harry’s Wall’.
“These fans risk life and limb walking down the A535 on a narrow overgrown footpath to cross the road and climb over a stile with a steep drop on the other side,” according to the Holmes Chapel Partnership.
The village has now produced its own map of the two mile tour – known as “Harry’s home village” – which the local railway station ticket officer gives away for free.
It was launched this summer after locals feared that fans were endangering themselves by walking on narrow paths next to main roads that have no pavement.
Supporters of the singer are instead encouraged to walk through residential areas and then follow the River Dane to visit the viaduct.
Lorraine Hughes, from nearby Middllewich, said: “It’s a lovely village so it doesn’t really need a Harry Styles.
“If it was overrun by fans it would be a shame.
“I like to come to enjoy a quiet coffee, so I might have to tell some of them to please bugger off!”
The 69-year-old added: “But I don’t mind his music. I liked One Direction too.’
Meanwhile Margaret Thompson, 72, said: “I don’t want the village overrun or spoilt.
“As long as it’s small groups of fans there shouldn’t be a problem.”
The new trail takes in W Mandeville’s Bakery, where Harry used to serve up pies and pastries from behind the counter before finding success in the music industry.
Fans can see his “favourite Chinese” – the Fortune City Chinese Restaurant and the Twemlow Viaduct where he wrote his name in the One Direction ‘This is Us’ biopic.
It also passes Hermitage Primary School, where Harry started some of his first music lessons as a child.
Railway station ticket officer Graham Blake, 62, says that he doesn’t think fans coming is a bad thing as long as they follow the safer paths.
He told MEN: “It puts our village on the map – I’ve had to create a Facebook page for all of the fans. We’ve had fans visit from Uruguay, Japan, Colombia, Canada and we’ve had loads of people from America visit.
“He has friends who live here though so I know he comes back to visit when he can.
“Everyone here has time for the fans and everyone here has a story about Harry – it’s such a small village so everyone knows everyone.”
Judy Abdelikareem, 19, from Gothenburg, Sweden, said: “He’s like a superstar, that’s why everyone comes to visit. I’ve always wanted to come to Holmes Chapel and sign the wall and now I’m finally here.”