Very ordinary little UK village which tourists from as far as Taiwan love

History is everywhere in Holmes Chapel.

The bullet marks in the church spire hark back to the English Civil War. The Red Lion pub, at the centre of the town’s small high street was one of the only surviving buildings from the Great Fire of 1753. And the war memorial reminds us of those who made the ultimate sacrifice in the great wars.

But it is more recent history that has put Holmes Chapel on the map and is the reason that tourists flock from all over the world.

As the blue plaque above a non-descript house states, it is the hometown of Harry Styles and it has seen an influx of devoted “Harries” making the pilgrimage to see the town that made the star.

The fans are easily identifiable. Many wear merchandise from his tours, they clutch maps detailing the hotspots and pose for selfies outside bakeries and Chinese restaurants.

Tour guide Izzy Boughey is a devoted fan who has seen the star perform more than ten times and puts her encyclopaedic knowledge of him to good use as she leads groups of fans around the town.

Izzy said: “The tour allows us to help fans explore the town in a safe way.

“Before we started doing it in June, you would still have people coming but they wouldn’t always know where to go and it could be unsafe with people from foreign countries crossing A-roads and things.”

And come from foreign countries they do.

Andrea Tseng is visiting the town with her Mother Mei Hui Wu from Taiwan and says she centred her entire trip to England around visiting Holmes Chapel.

Andrea said: “I love him so much, I have three tattoos that are influenced by him.”

On why she travelled so far to see him she said: “We are just such huge fans and to walk the streets he grew up on is really special.”

Another fan Marjo Viitala is visiting from Finland. The day previously, she had gone to Bradford to see the home city of Harry’s One Direction bandmate Zayn Malik and is heading to Manchester after the tour to watch Niall Horan perform in concert.

Marjo said: “It is really interesting to see these places that are less well known which produced these amazing performers.”

The tour charts a mix of Harry’s early life in the village. It starts at the train station, where Graham who mans the ticket office describes how he sold a young Harry his ticket to go to his X Factor audition and how he would catch up with him each week as he headed to London for the live shows.

Graham said: “He was a lovely young man, cheeky but always polite. His dad comes in to collect the visitors book that fans sign, and he says it means a lot to Harry who does take the time to look through.”

Additional stops on the tour include the shop where Harry’s Mum would buy his school uniform, the viaduct under which it is believed that he had his first kiss and the bakery he once worked in.

Customers appear non-plussed as they buy their sourdough amidst excited girls, evidently accustomed to what has become a regular sight.

The lady behind the counter says: “We do quite a bit of trade from people visiting the area because of Harry.

“It does help us and other businesses out and we’re so proud of him.”

There is an important economic benefit towards the influx of visitors. The economy around venues stars such as Styles perform in often benefit from the crowds they draw, as seen recently with fellow-megastar and one time Holmes Chapel visitor Taylor Swift, but rarely does this impact extend to the small communities they herald from.

But indirectly, Styles is helping Holmes Chapel. It is unlikely that tourists from Finland, Taiwan and Austria would visit this small town were it not for his success and in a cost-of-living crisis, extra footfall in local businesses can only be a good thing.

You might expect that locals are fed up with the intrusion, but quite the contrary, there is pride in their village and their most famous son.

Residents all have their own Harry Styles story. It is a small town, and it feels like everybody you speak to either knew him or knows somebody who did.

They are welcoming towards visitors and happy to help. One woman in Costa approaches a teenage girl in a Harry Styles jumper to ask if she has been on the tour and gives her directions to his childhood home, a landmark not on the itinerary due to the obvious intrusion it could cause to the current residents.

Messages under the viaduct talk of Styles saving people’s lives, empowering the downtrodden and soundtracking entire childhoods.

It is quite easy to mock those not under Styles’ spell but there is something uplifting about the whole experience, a charm in seeing strangers united and brought together through a shared passion.

It helps local businesses, enriches the fan experience and offers a glimpse into the town that shaped one of the most successful British artists of this century.

In the same way that Graceland, Liverpool and Abbey Road grew to become popular tourist attractions for fans of Elvis and the Beatles, Holmes Chapel can and seemingly has become something similar.