Haworth, the tiny West Yorkshire village once home to Britain’s most successful literary family, the Brontës, is no stranger to tourists – they’ve been coming here for 170 years – but, thanks to a certain Hollywood film released on Friday, this English cultural hotspot is about to see its visitor numbers go nuclear.
Wuthering Heights, Emerald Fennell’s punky, erotic film adaptation of Emily Brontë’s 1846 masterpiece stars Australia’s current hottest cinematic exports, Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi, and has already evoked the wrath of purists for its very modern take on the GSCE and A Level classic.
While Haworth didn’t get a starring role in the film, as the real-life inspiration for Brontë’s love story, it’s set to see hundreds of thousands of tourists descending in the coming weeks.
And they won’t be disappointed; its steep main thoroughfare, Main Street, possesses English quaintness of the kind that can send overseas tourists – particularly those from the US – into a spin.
There’s cobbled streets and gritstone house, shops selling boiled sweets and Brontë-themed stationery, and it’s all backed by the rugged moorlands where Cathy and Heathcliff’s story plays out.
One local historian, David Pearson, told the BBC this week that some uninitiated visitors even assume Haworth is a film set.
Pearson said: ‘Sometimes what is really disappointing is that people think it’s not real! Increasingly you go there, and I live in the village – at the bottom of Main Street – and you get people saying “Do people actually live here?” – they think it’s some sort of Disneyland.’
Around 7,000 people do live in Haworth permanently and, while there’s no denying the commercial benefits that the Hollywood spotlight will bring, there are mixed feelings about the tourism deluge that’s likely incoming, with some locals already fearful the village could be Britain’s next overtourism victim.
The Cotswolds and Cornwall have already struggled to cope with the rise of TikTok tourists, who arrive often by the bus-load, on villages and resorts that don’t have the infrastructure to cope with them.
The golden Cotswolds village of Bibury, for example, has become the setting for a million selfies in recent years thanks to Arlington Row, seven impossibly pretty 14th century wool stores turned weavers’ cottages – but locals are tearing their hair out at the coaches and cars that roll in year-round.
Haworth, which sits in West Yorkshire’s bucolic Worth Valley, usually attracts around 75,000 visitors annually, with many of them making the Brontë Parsonage Museum, where the family lived for decades, their first port of call.
Parking in the village is already a bone of contention for those who live there; a Facebook post recently described trying to get a space around Prince Street, close to Haworth Station, as ‘horrendous’ in recent weeks.
Another resident, Sarah-Jane Ross, posted on social media that the winter months were the ‘best time’ to live there, saying: ‘Finally, some peace returns to Haworth. January and February. The best time to live here. It’s wonderful to see the village as a breathing place rather than a product.’
A spokesperson for Visit Bradford told the Daily Mail that the situation re residents’ parking is being monitored.
They said: ‘Parking in Haworth, both public and private, is regularly reviewed and Haworth is well connected by public transport, with regular buses to and from Keighley with its transport connections to Leeds, Bradford and Skipton. Visitors can also make the trip via steam train, on the fantastic Keighley and Worth Valley Railway.’
What’s the word on the street about the impact Wuthering Heights tourism could have on the village?
The Daily Mail spoke to Hollie Meikle, who works at the Cabinet of Curiosities, a shop selling hand-made gifts on Main Street.
‘I think there’s definitely been a mixed reception’, says Meikle.
‘I’ve seen both sides from locals; positive – because it’s definitely good for businesses but in terms of things like parking, it is busier than usual – and parking has always been a bit of a struggle.’
Trade at the family-owned shop, which has operated for four decades, has been brisk for months – thanks to the hype surrounding the film’s release.
‘From October through to December, on a weekend, and even during half-term, we were having to have extra staff to man the door, and queues of people waiting to get in. It was a bit unexpected, to be honest.’
Pamela Howorth has run The Original Brontë Stationery Store on Main Street for 23 years.
Speaking to the Daily Mail ahead of the film’s release this week, she said: ‘I think we knew it was going to be busy but I think it’s taken us a little bit by surprise – it has drawn a lot of interest.
‘When the promotion for the film started last year, we noticed an increase in visitors, and an increase in younger people visiting – people in their 20s to 30s, taking lots of pictures!’
Content creators have already been sharing their ‘brand trips’ online of recent visits.
TikToker Katie Kennedy, known as TheHistoryGossip, recently posted clips of her visit to West Yorkshire, where she ticked off the Brontë Parsonage Museum.
Another user shared their tips on how to hike to ‘the real life Wuthering Heights’, while TikToker @Bronteeverafter suggested tourists should head to the Old Post Office in Haworth, where Brontë was said to have sent her Wuthering Heights manuscript to her publisher.
Visit Bradford is hopeful that the attention Emerald Fennell’s blockbuster will bring will introduce a new audience to the region.
A spokesperson said: ‘Tourists have been visiting Haworth for over 170 years following the Brontë sisters’ literary success. The village has attracted worldwide visitors ever since.
‘This new film adaptation shines a light on the Brontës again, inviting a new audience to experience Haworth and the Bradford district, which has just finished its successful year as UK City of Culture.’
Stationery shop owner Howorth says the majority of Main Street’s businesses are run by ‘strong women’ and she remains confident the village will cope with the masses, but adds: ‘Time will tell – ask me in a month!’
