Harry Styles superfans flock to his hometown's walking tour

The English village of Holmes Chapel has begun offering pop pilgrims walking tours that cover the early years of its most famous son.

HOLMES CHAPEL, England — Customers come from around the world to Simon Wakefield’s bakery in this village in northern England — and not just to sample his quality sausage rolls.

“We get lots and lots of fans,” he says, referring not only to W. Mandeville’s tasty product but also a notable ex-employee: Holmes Chapel’s most famous son and global pop megastar Harry Styles.

“People come in from all over the world,” the fourth-generation baker says as groups of young tourists crowd into the bakery to take selfies and buy pastries. “All over the U.K., but then Brazil, the U.S., Australia, Japan, everywhere.” 

A poster of Harry Styles inside the W. Mandeville bakery in Holmes Chapel, northern England, where the pop star once worked. NBC NewsW. Mandeville is one of the stops lining the Harry Styles walking tour that began operating earlier this month in the singer’s hometown, which is about 20 miles from the northwestern city of Manchester. A local not-for-profit set up the tour after growing numbers of fans have flocked there in recent years, with all proceeds going into a fund for the village. 

The superfans, known as “Harries,” are led to the Twemlow viaduct — residents say Harry had his first kiss there — which is covered in colorful messages to Harry and has even spawned its own hashtag. They’re also taken through the village, where many line up at Wakefield’s craft bakery to pose for photos with a poster of the former-One Direction member as a teenager wearing an apron. Styles mentioned his Saturday job in his breakthrough interview on Britain’s talent show The X Factor. 

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/harry-styles-superfans-flock-hometowns-walking-tour-rcna157998

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