‘They think our houses are a film set’ – life on Yorkshire’s most famous street

“For the first five years it was like being on holiday,” says Claire Foster who lives and works on Yorkshire’s most famous residential street.

We’re on Main Street in Haworth, a few miles from Keighley. This steep, cobbled thoroughfare was the stomping ground – or in the case of Branwell, staggering ground – of the legendary Bronte family.

The literary connection attracts thousands of international visitors to this Pennine high street lined with bookshops, cafes and gift shops. On a crisp but sunny Wednesday, the majority of visitors are British but you can hear the odd conversation in a foreign language.

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And yet Main Street is a working street with a surprisingly large number of long-established residents. It’s not all holiday rentals after all.

Claire and her husband Barry have run Hawksbys, a gallery and craft shop near the top of Main Street, for 23 years. Because of Main Street’s persistent popularity the couple work seven days a week with only sporadic breaks.

“When you go out of the village you get a lot of perspective. You realise how beautiful it is. You get that ‘homecoming’ feeling,” says Claire, 43.

“You look down the street and you think, how many people have that view?...and it’s so atmospheric.”

I ask Claire if she’s a Bronte fan because one shouldn’t assume everyone on Main Street is. “I prefer Jane Austin,” she says and laughs.

Down the hill with slightly less of a view is a woman we’ll call Janice. Janice (she doesn’t want to give her real name) is more openly ambivalent.

“It’s lovely,” she says before adding cautiously, “I just wish the tourists would be a bit more respectful.”

Haworth isn’t exactly Ayia Napa when it comes to nightlife but tourism does bring its problems. She complains of drunks peeing on people doorsteps and terrible parking.

As we chat a car of visitors makes a protracted and increasingly desperate attempt to parallel park. The driver soon discovers her clutch destroying efforts have been in vain as

Janice hobbles over to tell her passenger the space is for permit holders only. Janice, who has lived on Main Street for nearly two decades, continues: “At night, it depends on the weather. It can be a bit raucous.”

But she concedes: “It is a brilliant community. It’s like in the 1960s with that community support. We’re not in each others’ houses but we do look out for each other.”

Janice finds some of the international tourists amusing, especially those from parts of the US where a 100-year-old building is considered ‘ancient’.

“They think our houses are [film] sets or fascias. They don’t realise they are real houses,” she says.

And while Janice doesn’t necessarily love Haworth’s visitors, she has a soft spot for Japanese visitors. The Bronte canon is immensely popular in Japan to the extent signs to the Bronte Waterfall and Top Withens are in Japanese.

“You can be shamed by the Japanese tourists; the amount they know about it,” says Janice.

Towards the bottom of Main Street, Jamila Juma-Ware and her partner Matthew Wignall are opening a literary-themed kitchen and bar called Writers’ Bloc. The couple moved to Haworth three years ago.

Jamila, 40, says: “We’ve made some absolutely amazing friends. There’s a good community.

“Some people are anti-tourism – there’s about five people – whereas other people embrace the tourisms. It keeps the high street going. The footfall is incredible.”

This wide, low-ceiling bar is shaping up to add a splash of cool to Haworth – not that Haworth isn’t cool already – with its vintage typewriters, stylised Bronte posters and liberal splashes of dark wood and brass. Writers’ Bloc has an alcohol licence but it’s only until 10pm.

The mum-of-one, originally from Surrey, says: “Businesses here are respectful; they have to be because people actually live here.

“It’s about that balance between having enough to draw people here.”

Jamila says visitors haven’t intruded too much on her family life. “Occasionally, you get people having a bit of a good time,” she says diplomatically.

Pedants’ Corner: You could argue The Shambles, in York, is more famous. A few people live in the flats above the shops but it’s not really residential.

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