How Harry Styles fans are paying £20 for official guided tours of star's old haunts including bakery where he earned £6-an-hour and railway bridge where he 'had first kiss'
For Harry Styles superfans there's only one direction to head to - a remote railway viaduct on the Manchester to Crewe line.
The Twemlow Viaduct has become a mecca for pop pilgrims from across the globe ever since the superstar singer revealed it was the scene of his first kiss.
Styles, 30, returned there himself during the filming of This is Us - a TV documentary about One Direction - and wrote his name on the wall with a piece of chalk.
Now the 180-year-old brick structure, which has its own hashtag on TikTok, features as the highlight of a new official guided tour of the Cheshire village where the heartthrob singer grew up.
We were on hand to witness as excited young fans - known as Harries - and a handful of mums burst into a chorus of One Direction's smash hit What Makes You Beautiful as they reached the hallowed spot on the edge of leafy Holmes Chapel.
The route of the official Harry Styles guided tour - with the purple route being an optional one fans can take to stop by the restaurant the pop star took Taylor Swift on a date to
Harry Styles fans can now take and official tour of the famed singer's childhood village in Cheshire, visiting all the One Direction star's old haunts (he is pictured in February 2023)
The railway viaduct where Harry famously wrote his name in a One Direction docufilm - and fans now flock there to write their own adoring messages to Harry
His old village of Holmes Chapel is now offering official guided tours to fans for £20, with pitstops including the bakery where Styles worked as a teenager - which now features a life-sized cut out of the singer
Dozens of people take part in the guided trip through the rural village, which ends at 'The Wall' - a shrine of messages to the star at the Twemlow Viaduct
They had travelled from as far away as Sunderland, Nottingham and even Bangladesh and had each paid £20 for the privilege of following in the footsteps of their hero.
A film crew from American broadcasting giant NBC had also flown in to record the event for the flagship Today show which has an audience of five million viewers across the USA.
When Styles auditioned for The X Factor in 2010, he described Holmes Chapel - which has a population of 6,700 - as 'quite boring', adding: 'Nothing much happens there.'
That all changed after Styles shot to international fame with the boy band before soaring to even greater heights as a solo artist and amassing a fortune of £175 million along the way.
An estimated 5,000 fans began flooding into the village each year to pay homage to the star.
An estimated 5,000 fans began flooding into the village each year to pay homage to the star. Pictured visiting Mandeville's bakery (L-R) is Victoria Kamps, 24, from Germany, Nicole Kinowski, 24, from Chicago and Magda J, 21, from Poland
Devoted fans from America (pictured) have travelled across the pond to tour the local landmarks that shaped the popstar's upbringing
But concerns were raised as devoted followers were taking their lives in their hands to get to 'Harry's wall' beneath the 105 foot tall viaduct which crosses over the River Dane.
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The quickest route to the shrine involved negotiating narrow paths and a dangerous dash through traffic along the busy A535 which has no pavements and a 50mph speed limit.
Local community group Holmes Chapel Partnership stepped in last year distributing free maps to help visitors find popular landmarks linked to the star and take safe walking routes.
But as problems persisted the group has now launched the Harry's Home Village Tour.
Our first stop on the three-hour odyssey was Holmes Chapel railway station where we were excitedly told that Styles was known to have bought the odd train ticket there.
The first stop on the three-hour odyssey was Holmes Chapel railway station, where Styles used to catch the odd train. Fan can get a selfie with a cut out of the singer
Graham Blake, a station manager at the railway station, is among those supporting the tour
Graham, who previously posed for a picture with Harry, said visitors are encouraged to write messages to Styles in scrapbooks which the singer is said to have 'asked for for his 30th birthday' and are apparently passed on to his father who still lives in Cheshire.
Fans get their first chance to take a selfie with their idol - or at least a life sized cardboard cut out of Styles dressed in a tartan jacket and a pink feather boa.
Visitors are encouraged to write messages to Styles in scrapbooks which the singer is said to have 'asked for for his 30th birthday' and are apparently passed on to his father who still lives in Cheshire.
The station manager insists the pop singer 'reads them all'.
The village is making a killing from its famous former resident, with stores selling special t-shirts to the hordes of superfans visiting it
Next, it was a short walk to hardware store Sam Dale & Son to collect tour maps and where memorabilia is on sale.
It's also where guides hand out special blue hi-vis jackets emblazoned with 'Harry's Home Village Tour 2024' on the back - along with an image of the viaduct.
Staff insist Styles used to like to hang around the shop' to feed the ducks' during his break when he landed his first part time job as a teenager at the nearby village bakery.
It's at the bakery where there's another chance to pose up with Styles - again in the form of a cardboard cut out.
This time the fresh-faced teen is dressed in his baker's apron holding aloft a loaf of bread.
The W Mandeville bakery boasts: 'People come from miles and miles for craft baking - and Harry Styles.'
Thousands of Harry Styles fans from across the world have been flocking to Harry Style's place of work before he became famous: Mandeville's bakery
Inside the bakery is a prized picture of Styles with the rest of One Direction as the tuck into one of the store's pies
Guides give special blue hi-vis jackets emblazoned with 'Harry's Home Village Tour 2024' on the back - along with an image of the viaduct - to those joining the tour. Pictured is one man on the tour at the W Mandeville bakery
The singer had a Saturday job at the bakery for two years after starting aged 16.
Owner Simon Wakefield, said he was 'a really nice lad, so easy and down to earth'.
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Styles' co-workers were among the first to know when set out on the road to fame and fortune after landing his X factor audition - and played a part in his success.
Mr Wakefield told how Styles asked him if he could have a day off to travel down to London.
He told MailOnline: 'I said: 'Yeah no problem, go for it.'
The rest, of course, is history.
One famous landmark which is not on the tour - apparently it's too far off in the wrong direction - is the Fortune City Chinese restaurant where Styles famously took fellow superstar Taylor Swift on a date.
Styles was aged 18 when he treated Swift to a night out at his favourite takeaway to celebrate her 23rd birthday back in 2012.
There's no visit to his childhood home but the tour passed near Styles' primary school and eager guides are brimming with stories of the star's younger days.
Fortune City Chinese Restaurant, where Harry Styles once took Taylor Swift on a date, is not featured on the official tour
Styles was aged 18 when he treated Swift to a night out at his favourite takeaway to celebrate her 23rd birthday back in 2012 (he is pictured shortly after in 2013)
Taylor Swift, who landed in Edinburgh last week for the UK leg of her Eras tour,
Jill Booth, 58, is one of 11 guides mainly made up of locals who landed the plum jobs of leading groups after being whittled down from 150 global applicants.
Jill's son Mike is the same age as Styles. They attended nursery and primary school together and played together for the same local football team.
She said: 'He would knock on our door to come and play.
'I do remember him at the nativity play when he was about three or four as his mum had to take him off stage as he was crying and put him on her knee,
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'He'd got stage fright - things have certainly changed now.'
Jill directed visitors over a bridge which 'Harry probably walked over with his girlfriend' before heading on their romantic stroll to Twemlow Viaduct.
Reminiscing, Jill said: 'I do remember Harry was over at our house when he was seven or eight and my cat had brought in a baby mole.
'It started trying to dig under the carpet, and Harry said: 'I'll save it Mrs Booth'.
'He took it out to the garden but it tried to dig its way out. We called animal rescue who said to release it by the river.
'Then Harry and his sister carried it out and safely set the mole free - so he's nice to animals too.'
She added: 'My son broke his wrist once when he was playing in goal for his football team.
'I think Harry usually played on the wing but he went in goal for my son. We've still kept the gloves - they're known as 'Harry's gloves' now.'
Visitors are taken to a bridge (pictured) which 'Harry probably walked over with his girlfriend' before heading on their romantic stroll to Twemlow Viaduct
The Twemlow Viaduct (pictured) has become a mecca for pop pilgrims from across the globe ever since the superstar singer revealed it was the scene of his first kiss
Styles, 30, returned there himself during the filming of This is Us - a TV documentary about One Direction - and wrote his name on the wall with a piece of chalk. Fans now travel there to leave messages on the wall (pictured)
We then head off the beaten track as the trail leads to open countryside. Luckily the tour includes a briefing on the Country Code and we were advised when we bought our tickets to wear suitable clothes and footwear to tackle the muddy terrain.
There's also advice on how to negotiate kissing gates which keep livestock at bay and how to clamber over stiles of a different kind - the countryside ones.
Our excited group is finally heading to the spot where Styles shared his 'pretty steamy' first kiss with his young girlfriend whose identity he has not revealed.
Herds of cows grazing nearby seem oblivious to the events which are taking place around them.
It's our chance to leave personal messages on heart-shaped pieces of slate picked up earlier at Sam Dale's store.
They are given out as part of the tour to try to discourage adding to the Styles-inspired graffiti that covers the brickwork of the Grade II-listed viaduct.
Peter Whiers, 67, chair of Holmes Chapel Partnership, said: 'It's quite a spiritual place for Harry's fans.
'He gets messages from fans who have lost parents and how much his songs mean to his fans.'
Fans who sign up are offered discounts at local stores and profits will be diverted back into a fund for village improvements
At present the tours are operating on Saturdays but the good news is that from July to September they'll be up and running five days a week.