Man waved onto Peaky Blinders set after being mistaken for famous face

Meet the ultimate Peaky Blinders superfan who claims he's a dead ringer for Tom Hardy's character, and is often stopped by fans who mistake him for the Hollywood A-lister. Aron Walker, 37, has embraced his remarkable likeness to Alfie Solomons, complete with a flat cap, long coat, and full beard.

Despite not seeing the similarity initially, Aron, from Liverpool, found himself approached by passersby convinced he was Hardy himself. He and his mates, equally decked out as other figures from the hit BBC series, even managed to sneak onto the Peaky Blinders set in Castlefield, Manchester much to everyone's bewilderment.

His friend Scott Blowers, 50, is regularly confused with Tommy Shelby, Cillian Murphy's character, while another pal, lorry driver Steve Pritchard, 42, is a lookalike for Arthur Shelby, played by Paul Anderson.

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Aron, by trade a barman, has cleverly turned his resemblance into a lucrative sideline, earning up to £600 a go for appearances at events where he performs meet-and-greet tasks or works behind the bar. Reflecting on their lookalike gang and their foray into acting, Aron said: "What we’ve done is finding the best of the best of people that look like characters from the show. You also have got to make sure they are right person for the job.

"The job we do, and we never take it too seriously, it's all about having fun as well. It’s important to get things exactly right. The better the costume, the better it’s going to look and when we are entertaining the crowd which is brilliant.

Aron experienced a mix-up in June 2022 that led him straight onto the Peaky Blinders set during filming in Castlefield, Manchester. The security guards, mistaking them for the actual cast, waved them through, leading to quite the stir among fans.

Aron continued: "It was very surreal, and we went down for a photoshoot round the area where they were filming. As we were walking up and the securities looked at us and waved us straight in and we had the free run of the set.

"There was big piles of coal and Shelby signs everywhere and it was so cool. We were there for an hour and a half, and we looked on social media and people were saying the peaky blinders of us on Twitter, and we went viral. There was about 250 people following which I didn't really like too much."

On his journey as a Peaky Blinder impersonator, Aron has been fortunate enough to receive special accessories fitting for his role. Among these are shoes provided by Loake, rings, and notably, an Alistair Cook long coat emblematic of the series.

His career took off following his recognition as a convincing Alfie Solomon's lookalike at the Peaky Blinders bar in Liverpool, and since then, he has gone on to launch the Peaky Blinders bar in Manchester, making his mark in this unique industry.

Aron shared: "We did bar work and then between that we did private events over in Benidorm and done cruises over in Amsterdam and done Peaky blinder nights at a gold club on the Isle of white."

He added: "There is always something to do and It’s something I’ve done for quite a while but I do enjoy it, If I wasn't enjoying it, I would've stopped doing it."