Harry Styles followers scramble to get tickets for tour of his hometown

You’ve been to the concert(s), you’ve bought the T-shirt – maybe you’ve got a whole wardrobe full of merchandise – but, as a Harry Styles mega-fan, or, a ‘Harrie’, you want more.

And now, thanks to Holmes Chapel Partnership, an organisation focused on ongoing improvement in the East Cheshire village, Styles fans can sign up for ‘Harry’s Home Village Tour’, a £20 guided tour of the international popstar’s old stomping ground. 

Yet, while most Harries could probably think of nothing better than visiting their idol’s old haunts – including the Chinese restaurant where the former One Direction singer wooed Taylor Swift – not everyone’s happy about the new initiative.

Created by Holmes Chapel Partnership rather than a collaboration with Styles or his team, the official launch of Harry’s Home Village Tour on Thursday attracted some criticism online, with one fan asking ‘Why has this been made a thing?’

‘Why has this been made a thing like that is peoples HOME’, the fan wrote on X, formerly Twitter. 

Another person said: ‘This is so weird. Monetising someone’s childhood home?’  A third asked, ‘Is this real?’ while a fifth added, ‘this feels wrong’. 

Another person was concerned about the ethics of turning Styles’s home village into a pilgrimage site when the 30-year-old heartthrob is very much thriving. 

They wrote: ‘This is actually so weird. Making monument and touristy out of someone who’s alive and happy never makes sense to me’. 

Someone else, who ‘grew up next to Holmes Chapel’ found the whole idea of  the Harry’s Home Village Tour unnerving, adding: ‘No cause as someone who grew up next to Holmes Chapel this whole concept is freaking me the f*** out’. 

While another fan appeared concerned that Harry ‘can never go home again because of the tourist trap’ but conceded that things were already heading in that direction since people have been visiting Holmes Chapel to retrace Styles’s childhood for years.   

Still, the guided tours starting in June and running until September are likely to be a hit with Harries – and are sure to sell-out fast. 

Some fans went against the grain on X and shared enthusiastic messages about the upcoming guided tours.

One fan posted: ‘How wonderful I wish I could go’.

Another, equally excited, fan wrote: ‘OMG HE IS OFFICALLY A LEGENDDDDD I LOVE HIM SM’.

While a third simply confirmed she would be going, posting: ‘Booked’.  

Lasting between two and a half to three hours, the walking tour will take in sites including Harry’s childhood home, his school, Mandeville’s Bakery – where a 14-year-old Harry used to work on Saturdays – and Twemlow Viaduct, as well as Fortune City restaurant where he took Taylor Swift. 

Harries will also be able to take a selfie with a life-size carboard cut-out of a 14-year-old Harry in his apron in Mandeville’s Bakery. 

The 180-year-old Twemlow Viaduct holds special significance for Harry, who rose to fame as a fifth of boyband One Direction, given that it was where he had his first kiss.

It’s also where he etched his name in This is Us, the 2013 documentary about the band, which was born out of the seventh series of X Factor in 2010. 

Since then, fans have descended on the viaduct to write their own names and messages on what has become known as ‘Harry’s Wall’. 

During the tour, Harry’s fans will be strongly discouraged from writing on the Grade II listed Twemlow Viaduct wall. 

Instead participants will be given a slate heart (included in the £20 ticket price) to decorate and leave at the site. The hearts will be collected by Harry’s father, Desmond. 

Those who sign up to the official tour will also receive a ‘Harry’s Home Village Tour’ map, which offers exclusive deals with local shops and venues in Holmes Chapel. 

Merchandise, including T-shirts and key rings with the tour’s official logo, will be available to purchase during the tour and online. 

Fans who are under 16 will need to be accompanied by an adult of at least 18. 

In April, Holmes Chapel Partnership invited applications for tour guide roles, open to those who have a genuine interest in the village and its history as well as links to its most famous export.

Peter Whiers, chairman of Holmes Chapel Partnership, said: ‘We aim to start official tours of Harry’s Home Village on Saturday mornings in June and weekdays in July, August and September, and will be recruiting Harry Styles fans from sixteen and over to act as local guides.’ 

He added: ‘It has been an incredible year with over 5,000 visitors and four TV crews making the pilgrimage as the Harries continued to arrive in Holmes Chapel.

‘Even the worst of the winter months has not stopped them from braving muddy banks and wet fields to pay homage at Harry’s Wall at the viaduct.’

He continued: ‘But we now think it is time for Holmes Chapel to increase what we can offer to the young visitors and ensure they return home with a memorable experience of Harry’s village.’

The partnership was bracing itself for a high number of applications for tour guide roles and planned to hold a half-day assessment session on April 20 to recruit up to sixteen people.

The launch of ‘Harry’s Home Village Tour’ comes after Harry reportedly split from his girlfriend of 14 months, Taylor Russ.