Holmes Chapel is bracing itself for swarms of Harry Styles fans after the global pop phenomenon dropped the first track of his new album and announced a series of shows on home soil.
The village where the former One Direction heartthrob spent his childhood is regularly visited by “Harries” from around the country and overseas, who use Holmes Chapel Partnership’s self-guided walking maps to see the house where he lived on London Road, the viaduct where he is said to have had his first kiss and Fortune City Chinese restaurant, where he once dined with Taylor Swift. Not forgetting Mandeville’s bakery where he had a Saturday job.
In addition, fans arriving by train are given a Styles-ish welcome, as the ticket office is crammed with his merchandise.
The walls are covered in cut-outs of the pop star, some life-sized, and there is even a dressing up box full of props, including trademark feather boas, for a photo opp.
Written messages to the superstar can be posted in a special letter box. They are then passed on to the mega-selling musician by someone in the village.
His latest album, “Kiss All The Time, Disco Occasionally” is due for release in March. He will perform at the 2026 Brit awards ceremony at Manchester’s Co-op Arena on Saturday, 28th February and will stage a record-breaking 12 shows during a residency at Wembley Stadium this summer, in front of around one million fans.
One of those lucky enough to bag a ticket for Wembley is superfan Suzanne Tinsley, who helped station supervisor Graham Blake to transform the Holmes Chapel ticket office into a Harries hot spot.
She said she was expecting plenty more fans to visit this year.
“We just wanted to make Harry fans feel welcome when they arrived at the train station,” said 49-year-old Mrs Tinsley, of Warrington, who has seen him in concert five times.
“There’s all sorts of merchandise, from T-shirts to tote bags and cushions. There’s even a book where fans can leave messages for Harry, which are sent to him directly via a third party in the village.”
Around 100 self-guided walking maps are being downloaded each month as fans prepare their visit to the village, and that number is likely to increase as Harry-mania takes over the village once again.
