Holmfirth

West Yorkshire

Sid's Cafe, HolmfirthSouth Lane and Dunford Road, HolmfirthHoly Trinity Church, HolmfirthVictoria Street, HolmfirthHolmfirth is a small market town full of character in the valley of the River Holme 5 miles south of Huddersfield (6.3 miles by road).

The town is bustling with smart shops, boutiques, pubs and restaurants, while stone-built cottages and houses seem to cling to the steep sides of the valley, some reached by cobbled streets.

Holmfirth was the principal location of TV's longest-run comedy series Last Of The Summer Wine and tourists visiting the town still head for Sid's Cafe, Nora Batty's steps or take a scenic trip around some of the other famous locations.

Holmfirth was first famous for film-making much earlier than this. Back in the early 1900s, even before Hollywood, Bamforth & Co were behind pioneering film-making work, but later became better known for their saucy seaside postcards.

The town hosts a Folk Festival in May and also a two-week Arts Festival in June, featuring art, music, theatre and performance from local and national talent.

The edge of the Peak District National Park is in the south Pennine moorland just outside the town. There are plenty of attractive walks in the area, particularly around the Holme Valley's reservoirs. It was the bursting one of these, Bilberry Reservoir, which was responsible in 1852 for the most disastrous of several floods which hit Holmfirth and other Holme Valley villages, claiming 81 lives. Another flood in 1944 also wreaked havoc in Holmfirth and three people drowned.

The tremendous scenery of the area continues to be placed under pressure with an increase in house-building, often providing homes for people who wish to commute to other towns and cities to work.

For more than 100 years, Holmfirth had a railway station, hence the Station Road in the town. It was at the end of a branch stretching for nearly two miles from the Huddersfield-Penistone-Sheffield line at Brockholes. It was opened in 1850 but closed to passengers in 1959 and freight in 1965. Buses now provide connections to neighbouring towns, including Huddersfield, through traffic which is often congested at peak times.

Town features

The former Holmfirth Market, Hollowgate.Huddersfield Road, Holmfirth A wide range of shops and boutiques and an artist's gallery complement Holmfirth's status as a bustling tourist town. There's also a wide range of local shopping and services including, hardware, bakery, groceries, antiques, clothing and estate agents.
A former car showroom with access from Huddersfield Road and Hollowgate was the location of Holmfirth's indoor market but this recently closed and stalls have been relocated outdoors at a temporary location at School Street, Crown Bottom, on Thursday and Saturday mornings.

Supermarkets are represented by a large Co-operative, Lidl and a Sainsbury's Local.

Holmfirth post office is at Station Road near to the bus station.
Holmfirth has chemists at Huddersfield Road and at the Elmwood Health Centre.

A variety of pubs and bars can be found around the town centre.

Places to eat around the town include pubs, restaurants, tea and coffee shops, some of these at famous TV locations, and an ice cream and coffee shop run by a local dairy.

The town has fish and chip shops and a selection of takeaway food outlets.

The town has a library in Huddersfield Road.

Holmfirth has a Tourist Information Centre at the library.

There are public toilets at Town Gate near to the bus station.

The River Holme flows through Holmfirth, where it is joined by the River Ribble.

Holy Trinity Church is the parish church of Holmfirth and is in the heart of the town. The present church dates from 1788.  Website

Entertainment

The Picturedrome, Holmfirth The Picturedrome
Market Walk
Built as a cinema more than a century ago and first named the Holme Valley Theatre, The Picturedrome now offers an exciting live music venue.

Holmfirth Civic Hall Holmfirth Civic Hall
Huddersfield Road
Holmfirth Civic Hall offers a popular traditional venue for shows, choral concerts and exhibitions.


Museum

Nora Batty's steps, Holmfirth Last of the Summer Wine Exhibition
Scarfold
The exhibition is situated at the famous steps of TV's longest run comedy series Last of Summer Wine on which Compo had many a hilarious battle with Nora Batty. Inside is a Compo-style treasure trove of show memorabilia, photographs and videos and the tour starts and ends in a souvenir gift shop.


Places to Visit

Peak District National Park

The vast area of the Peak District National Park starts at Holme, around 3 miles south-west of Holmfirth. Buses run from Holmfirth into the National Park, which stretches from Yorkshire into Derbyshire and beyond. For more details see our Peak District page.

Whistlestop Valley formerly Kirklees Light Railway

Shelley station - Kirklees Light RailwayKirklees Light RailwayPark Mill Way, Clayton West, near Huddersfield
Whistelstop Valley is a rebranding of the Kirklees Light Railway, a 15-inch-gauge light railway on the trackbed of the former Clayton West branch line from the Huddersfield-Penistone-Sheffield line. The branch had survived the Beeching axe of the 1960s but eventually closed to coal traffic in 1979 and passengers from the large commuter villages of Skelmanthorpe and Clayton West in 1983. Work began to create the new 15-inch-gauge light railway from Clayton West in 1991 and was completed along the full 3.5 miles to Shelley in 1997. The line operates most weekends and on weekdays at certain times of the year. Six steam locomotives and two diesel locomotives are used on the line, some built specially for the railway while others have seen previous service at seaside railways such as the Fairbourne Railway in Wales and Cleethorpes Coast Light Railway in North East Lincolnshire. Special occasions have seen guest visits from other lines, including the Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch Railway in Sussex and the Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway in Cumbria. Santa Specials operate in December. The railway is based at Clayton West where there is a cafe, play area, picnic area, miniature railway, gift shop and toilets. At the Shelley end of the line there is also a cafe, play area, picnic area and toilets. There is no interchange with the adjoining main line at KLR's Shelley station, but there is a waymarked walk to the station from Shepley, taking about 20 minutes. The KLR's intermediate stations at Skelmanthorpe and Cuckoo's Nest provide access to a good network of paths for walkers, Skelmanthorpe station being a short walk from the village. The railway marks its 30th year in 2021 with rebranding as Whistlestop Valley and traditional train tickets replaced with Big Adventure tickets if wanting a train ride as well as access to all facilities like the cafe and picnic area, activity space and a jumping pillow timetabled to arrive in August 2021.

More information at the  Whistlestop Valley website.




Travel

Holmfirth bus station is in Towngate. There are regular services to Huddersfield, the quickest journey in around 25 minutes. There are also services to Wakefield via Denby Dale, Penistone and to many other surrounding villages. A Friday service operates into the Peak District via Holme Moss continuing to Torside and Glossop in Derbyshire. For fuller details of buses from Holmfirth see  Huddersfield.guide - Holmfirth

Holmfirth is the crossing point of the A635 and A6024 roads. Both converge on to a narrow stretch of road in Holmfirth town centre, leading to some congestion at peak times. Holmfirth is reached from Huddersfield via the A616 turning onto the A6024 at Honley Bridge. While there are a number of car parks in Holmfirth some of these are small and busy at times and travel into the town by bus is often a good option for visitors.

Emergency services

West Yorkshire Police  West Yorkshire Police website.

West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service  West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service website.

Yorkshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust  Yorkshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust website.


Local government

Civil parish council

Holme Valley Parish Council
Holme Valley Parish Council, based at the Council Offices in Huddersfield Road, Holmfirth, is a civil parish council of 23 councillors and provides a limited range of services in the Holme Valley, grants and local input into the planning function of the district authority. The council elects a chairman annually.
Link to council website  Holme Valley Parish Council

Metropolitan district council

Kirklees Council

Kirklees Council covers a large metropolitan district based in Huddersfield but also covering well over 100 towns and villages.

They include those in the former county borough of Huddersfield, the former boroughs of Dewsbury, Batley and Spenborough (based in Cleckheaton), the former urban districts of Heckmondwike and Colne Valley (based in Slaithwaite and also including Marsden) and the five large civil parishes created from former urban districts in Holme Valley (around Holmfirth), Denby Dale, Kirkburton, Meltham and Mirfield. Areas other than the latter five are without town or civil parish councils. Part of the district is in the Peak District National Park.

Kirklees Council is made up of 69 councillors with three councillors per ward in 23 wards. Councillors are elected for four-year terms with one-third involved in elections in three out of four years. Councillors elect a Mayor and Deputy Mayor of Kirklees each year.


Link to  Kirklees Council website.

Political composition after May 2024 election:

2291510643 KCIG
69 members KCIG = Kirklees Community Independents Group


See our Yorkshire.guide Gazetteer for more about the  Kirklees metropolitan district and places within it.

County strategic authority

West Yorkshire Combined Authority
Covers some combined services of the five metropolitan district councils of West Yorkshire -  Bradford,  Calderdale,  Leeds,  Kirklees and  Wakefield — which were at one time provided by a West Yorkshire metropolitan county council, with the addition of the non-contiguous unitary authority area of the City of  York council as well as the unelected Leeds City Region Enterprise Partnership. Since 2021 it has operated with an elected mayor as chairman and decision-maker for some responsibilities. These include transport, housing and planning and finance powers. The responsibilities also include those of Police and Crime Commissioner, a role substantially delegated to an appointee deputy mayor.

Elected mayor: Tracy Brabin Labour & Cooperative
 West Yorkshire Combined Authority website.


Police and Crime Commissioner

The Police and Crime Commissioner for West Yorkshire
This role has become one of the many responsibilities of the West Yorkshire elected mayor since May 2021.

 West Yorkshire Combined Authority website.


Fire Authority

West Yorkshire Fire Authority
The fire authority is made up of elected members of each of the five metropolitan district councils of West Yorkshire - Bradford, Calderdale, Leeds, Kirklees and Wakefield.
 West Yorkshire Fire Authority web pages.


Parliamentary constituency

Colne Valley
Elected MP: Paul Davies Labour

National government region

Yorkshire and the Humber

Ceremonial county

West Yorkshire

Historic

Holmfirth Urban District Council (formed 1894, expanded 1938, abolished 1974).


Other websites

Huddersfield.guide/Holmfirth   Holmfirth and its surrounding villages in more detail at Huddersfield.guide

Also in Yorkshire.guide

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