Revealed: Harry Styles superfans face 80

Release time：2024-05-21 14:00:35 Source：Stellar Site news portal

Harry Styles 'superfans' applying for jobs as tour guides in his home town face a tough recruitment process.

The applicants will have to answer an 80-question quiz on the star and his hometown before completing a short individual presentation.

A map produced by Holmes Chapel Partnership - which the local railway station ticket officer Graham Blake gives away for free - treats fans to a two-mile journey around the village that navigates them through the significant spots of Harry's past. 

But now local leaders are going one step further and are planning official tours to show fans sights such as the bakery where he worked as a teen and Twemlow Viaduct where he reputedly had his first kiss.

They received over 150 applications for Harry Styles experts to lead the tours and interviewed 20 hopefuls on Saturday, April 20. 

Pictured visiting Mandeville's bakery (L-R) is Victoria Kamps, 24, from Germany, Nicole Kinowski, 24, from Chicago and Magda J, 21, from Poland

An applicant giving a short presentation as part of the tough application process which also includes answering an 80-question quiz on the famous pop star

Harry Styles posing with a loaf of bread while working at W Mandeville bakery in Holmes Chapel before he found fame on X Factor

Harry Styles posing with his awards at the 2023 Brit awards where he won British Pop/R&B Act, British Artist of the Year, Song of the Year and Album of the Year

More than 5,000 fans - known as 'Harries' - have descended on the quaint Cheshire village of Holmes Chapel in the past year and now locals are hoping to capitalise on the attention by employing tour guides.

The guides will work part time through the summer months and take tour groups through a special route through Harry's hometown. 

Applicants were required to have a genuine interest in the village and its history - as well as its links to Harry Styles - and have excellent communication and storytelling skills.

Peter Whiers, chairman of the Holmes Chapel Partnership, says there was 'a lot of love for Harry' in the room where the interviews were held.

He said: 'The assessment day went incredibly well.

'There was a lot of love for Harry in the room but also many applicants whose shared fantastic knowledge of local history and pride in Holmes Chapel village.

A map showing the route of the walking tour around Holmes Chapel

W Mandeville, the bakery Harry Styles worked a Saturday job at in Holmes Chapel

Pictured at the bakery is a photo of One Direction when they popped into Mandevilles in their heyday

The childhood home where Harry Styles used to live

Harry and Taylor Swift were a brief romance between 2012 and 2013 and the Watermelon Sugar singer took the star to his local Chinese restaurant 

 'Alongside this, we were keen to identify applicants who were well organised, engaging speakers and confident to lead a group safely around the village.

'I was really impressed with the calibre of the attendees.

'I'm confident we can now appoint tour guides who will make Harry Home Village Tours an entertaining and enjoyable experience this summer.'

The tours will run on Saturday mornings in June and weekdays in July, September and August this year.

The partnership originally wanted to appoint 12 guides but after the success of the interview process, they have decided to hire more.

Peter said: 'The combination of the excellent applicants we met today and high early interest in the tours has swayed our decision to offer positions to several more Tour Guides.

'This will ensure we have a team large enough to comfortably meet demand and deliver daily tours over the summer months.'

While people from all over the world threw their hat into the ring, Holmes Chapel Partnership narrowed down their search to just locals.

Despite people applying from Argentina and Germany, the civil parish only wanted guides who lived a 30 minute drive away in case they had to be drafted in last minute.

The tour guides will have a temporary zero hours contract and will be paid £8.60 an hour if they are aged 16 to 20 or £11.50 an hour if they are over 20-years-old. 

Harry took former girlfriend Taylor Swift to Fortune City Chinese Restaurant for dinner on her 23rd birthday 12 years ago, which is a few doors down from his childhood home

Thousands of Harry Styles fans from across the world have been flocking to Harry Style's previous place of work before he became famous: Mandeville's bakery

The railway viaduct where Harry famously wrote his name in a One Direction docufilm - fans now flock there to write their own adoring messages to Harry

While people from all over the world threw their hat into the ring, Holmes Chapel Partnership narrowed down their search to just locals.

READ MORE: Harry Styles's teenage superfans are being recruited to lead tours of his hometown including the bakery where he worked, the takeaway he took Taylor Swift to and the site of his first kiss after the pop star's young admirers flocked to his county in droves

Despite people applying from Argentina and Germany, the civil parish only wanted guides who lived a 30 minute drive away in case they had to be drafted in last minute.

The tour guides will have a temporary zero hours contract and will be paid £8.60 an hour if they are aged 16 to 20 or £11.50 an hour if they are over 20-years-old. 

Last year, the partnership produced special maps of walking tours for the two mile-long pilgrimage because of road safety concerns.

Every stop on the tour is steeped in the enigmatic pop star's history, with the route taking in the As It Was hitmaker's childhood home, his old school and Mandeville's bakery where he had a Saturday job at and

The tour ends in a fairy-tale fashion at a railway viaduct - where Harry is alleged to have had his first kiss.

Mr Whiers said the Harry Styles Walking Map had resulted in a big increase in visitors and businesses seizing the opportunity to cater for them.

He said: '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.

A dedicated fan signs the Harry Styles visitor book while pictures of him surround the table

A curated map produced by the civil parish treats fans to a two-mile journey around the village that navigates them through the significant spots of Harry's past including the viaduct

Station master Graham Blake poses with a cardboard cutout of Harry. Fans from all over the world visit the quaint village and go on the currently self guided local tour

Devoted fans from America (pictured) have travelled across the pond to tour the local landmarks that shaped the popstar's upbringing

'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.'

Mr Whiers added: '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.' 

Around 5,000 diehard fans have already hot-footed it to Holmes Chapel in the last year alone, and interest, Peter says, has 'gone mad' since news of the tours broke — with TV crews from Spain and France, and even journalists from the New York Times, getting in touch.

'The idea is that we will charge £20 a tour and use the money to support retail and the infrastructure of the village,' he says.

'Last year was dire, what with the cost-of-living crisis people stopped buying luxuries such as coffees and cakes so much, and we had several businesses go bust. If we can do something Harry-related to support them, then that's the aim.'

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