A Congleton man who went from bin biographer to social media sensation is now an aspiring author.
Andy Bailey shot to national fame after starting his Bins of Congleton social media page two years ago. It contains photos of public bins across the town, from pebble-dashed concrete ones to novelty shapes and everything in between.
He has now signed a publishing deal to release a book documenting bins across the whole of the county.
He said: “I reached out to a few publishers about doing a bins of Congleton book, but they weren’t interested because they said it was too niche.
“But I’ve managed to find one who has agreed to do it – if I include bins from all across Cheshire – at least half will be from Congleton anyway.”
Mr Bailey said he had already traversed the county compiling photos of bins to use in the book.
“Congleton clearly has the best bins,” he said.
“But there are some other contenders. For the size of the place, Crewe has some great bins that have never been replaced.
“They’ve also got some bear bins that we don’t have, along Nantwich Road near the train station.”
Like 16th century Congleton, Nantwich also had town bears.
Wilmslow, he said, had some of the worst bins in the county.
“Poynton was so-so and there wasn’t a lot going on in Disley. Wilmslow’s were rubbish – they’re all black with a bit of gold plastic trim, and they’re all identical,” he said.
Each public bin documented within the book will be given its own name, a “Top Trumps” rating out of 25, grid coordinates and a 100-word description.
He said: “I’m also trying to get the hex colour code for each bin, so that people can paint their walls the same colour as their favourite bin, if they want to.”
Mr Bailey said he still needed to find five bins in Warrington and a further five in Chester to complete his refuse receptacle compendium.
He said he did not yet have a publication date but hoped the book would be released at some point in the next year.
