Entertainment
Village raises concerns over thousands of Harry Styles fans visiting the spot he had his first kiss as they flock to Cheshire-Kim Novak-Entertainment – Metro
They have concerns about the road they have to walk down.
Fans from around the world make the pilgrimage to Harry Styles’ home town (Picture: backgrid / getty / reuters / rex)
So many Harry Styles fans have been flocking to the leafy Cheshire village of Holmes Chapel that the local council has had to raise the issue at a meeting.
Thousands of fans have made the pilgrimage to see landmarks from the Watermelon Sugar star’s home town over the years, including the bakery he worked in and the place where he had his first kiss.
Cheshire East Council have raised their concerns about the numbers of fans that have been visiting the 28-year-old megastar’s former home town, which has a population of just 5,000 residents.
The council has raised its fears for the welfare of the young people visiting, due to concerns of the large numbers of fans walking down Macclesfield Road to visit the Twemlow railway viaduct.
The viaduct is special to the fans for two reasons – Harry once scrawled his name there (though it has tragically since been rubbed away, as well as being the location the One Direction star had his first kiss.
The fans making the trip have taken to writing their names on the base pillar of the viaduct as well as flocking to W Mandeville, the bakery where Harry had his first Saturday job and which has a life-sized carboard cutout of the singer holding a loaf of bread, so they can get a pastry and a carrier bag to keep as a souvenir.
A fave spot is the place Harry had his first kiss – which, to be fair, does look stunning (Picture: Getty Images/iStockphoto)
Long queues regularly form at the bakery where the One Direction star used to work (Picture: REUTERS)
Harry used to live in this home with his family (Picture: Paul Lewis/REX/Shutterstock)
Cllr Andrew Kolker, who represents Holmes Chapel, raised his concerns about the ‘pilgrimages’ people have been making to the viaduct site via the dangerous road at a Cheshire East Council meeting this week.
He told the council’s economy and growth committee: ‘In Holmes Chapel we have a lot of teenagers, both girls and boys, coming to see the sights and sounds of Harry Styles, which is absolutely no problem. It’s lovely to see them in Holmes Chapel.
‘However, we do have two sites that are a common site of pilgrimage for these kids and that is the viaduct [which] has Harry’s name scrawled all over it apparently from when he was a young youth – and that site’s a popular site for teenagers, as is the site of Harry’s first kiss.’
Fans make their pilgrimages to visit the town where Harry grew up (Picture: GEOFF ROBINS/AFP via Getty Images)
He added: ‘This is fine except that the A535 is an extremely busy road and it’s a very, very dangerous road to walk along It’s an extremely dangerous road with very, very limited parking and footpaths.
‘I just wonder whether officers from this committee could have a look at this particular detail.’
Committee chair Nick Mannion also raised that Take That fans used to flock to Plumley Station in Cheshire, when members of the band lived nearby, adding: ‘There was a major issue because there are no public conveniences at Plumley Railway Station.’
He told Cllr Kolker that the visitors were not an issue for the economy committee but that police would have the powers to deal with vehicles parking on grass verges in consultation with the highway authority.
It’s not just local or UK-based fans that have visited Holmes Chapel, as Harry’s followers from as far as Australia have made the trip while visiting the UK to see him in concert.
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