Before his fame, this tree-lined English village offered a small railway station with connections to Manchester and Crewe, a few local shops, and nearby the picturesque Twemlow Viaduct, built 180 years ago on the banks of the River Dane.
But everything changed when a curly-haired teenager, who at the time worked part-time in the local bakery, auditioned in London for the TV show The X Factor. That young man was Harry Styles, whose career included the success of the boy band One Direction before launching his solo career.
Holmes Chapel’s rise to fame as a tourist attraction began with One Direction’s 2013 documentary This Is Us. For Styles’ passionate fans around the world—known as “Harries”—the places of his youth became sacred sites and new landmarks in pop culture.

The viaduct, where Harry Styles had his first kiss and wrote his name in chalk during the filming of the documentary, has become the main pilgrimage site for international fans visiting Holmes Chapel, a village with just 6,700 residents. With around 5,000 visitors annually, traffic management has become a concern for the locals.
A year after introducing a map with possible walks through the village, the community group Holmes Chapel Partnership launched the “Harry Village Tour” over the weekend. The quiet tour, lasting 2.5 to 3 hours, takes visitors to sights associated with Harry Styles and offers plenty of time for selfies and social media content. The guides are specially trained experts on local history and legends about the artist, with some sharing personal stories of encounters with him.
Jill Booth, 58 years old and a tour guide, fondly recalls her meeting with Harry Styles: “My favorite memory of Harry Styles was when he helped me save a baby mole that my cats had brought into the house and which had hidden under the carpet.” As a former neighbor with a son the same age as the singer, Jill has known Styles since his childhood, adding a personal touch to the village tour.
There were 150 applicants for the tour guide positions, many from abroad, and the application process included an 80-question quiz about the star and his hometown, as well as a practical presentation at the viaduct.
Isabella Boughey, 21, from Stoke-on-Trent, is one of the chosen guides and has been a long-time Harry Styles fan since the early days of his career. She recalls watching The X Factor with her mother as a child and says Harry has always held a special place in her heart. “I love how he embodies happiness and positivity.”
The tour begins at Holmes Chapel station, where station agent Graham Blake welcomes fans from all over the world, coming from places as far as Australia and Mexico. Blake remembers Styles at the station during his weekly travels to London for The X Factor. “He was a lovely boy,” Blake recalls. “Always fashionable and all that. Wore those jeans with his Calvin Klein underwear and a little fluffy hat.”
The station agent shows the station’s guestbook, now in its sixth edition, filled with heartfelt messages from fans. Occasionally, Des Styles, Harry’s father, visits the station to collect these tribute-filled books and bring them to his son.
For Graham Blake, his role as a guide for Harry Styles fans has turned into the “best job in the world,” allowing him to meet people from all corners of the globe, all coming to share their stories.
The station ticket area is decorated with Harry Styles-themed memorabilia, including a life-sized cardboard cutout of the artist. Another 2D representation of Harry greets visitors at W. Mandeville Bakery, where both staff and customers seem unfazed by the media attention, accustomed to the village’s newfound celebrity status.
In shop windows, Harry Styles coloring books are displayed, while bars offer cocktails like “Watermelon Sugar.” For any resident not particularly interested in Styles, the town could pose a challenge.
After purchasing sweets at W. Mandeville, fans often try to walk along the busy A305 road to the Twemlow Viaduct, where cars drive at about 80 km/h, with no sidewalks for pedestrians.
The safest route to the viaduct, the one Harry Styles and other local children took in the past, winds through green fields and along the riverbank.
During the walk to the viaduct, visitors are informed about the Countryside Code of England and Wales, which provides guidelines on how to move on private land and interact with local animals.
The presence of a herd of cattle running through the visitors poses a risk and could potentially trample the blanket on which fans sit while braiding friendship bracelets.
Phoebe Hodges and Mia Tesolin, both 18 and from Canberra, Australia, traveled to Holmes Chapel to explore Harry Styles’ hometown. “I love the vegetation and the houses,” Hodges shares. Tesolin adds, “The scenery is really beautiful.”
Although the tour has not yet been officially endorsed by Harry Styles, Peter Whiers, president of the Holmes Chapel Partnership, shared that they had contacted the artist’s management through his mother.
Peter Whiers, who had a connection with the artist from overseeing his cycling skills when he was around 10 years old, was responsible for preparing the students at his school for the Cycling Proficiency Test, a national cycling safety program.
One place not part of the tour is the recently reopened Chinese restaurant Fortune City. On a Friday afternoon, with its dark windows, it seems like any other restaurant in the small town. Yet, in 2012, Harry Styles, then 18, took his then-girlfriend Taylor Swift, who was 23 at the time, to dinner there. A photo of that moment was shared on Twitter, showing the visibly excited singer next to Swift.
Whiers emphasizes in an interview that Harry Styles’ fanbase mainly consists of young women, whom he describes as “generally very respectful.” He mentions the messages they leave in Graham’s station guestbook and on the walls, all expressions of love.
The success of the tour through Holmes Chapel is evident, with fans adopting Harry Styles’ music motto, “Treat People with Kindness,” as their own. Despite a price of £20, the tourist map offers discounts at local businesses, aimed at boosting the sale of tourist T-shirts in the region.
While small communities around the world, from Japan to Austria to the Balearic Islands, are facing challenges from increased tourism, the attitude of Whiers and the Holmes Chapel community remains positive, striving to make the best of this new tourist reality: “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.”