Holmfirth

Holmfirth Parish Church seen from the town centre

Holmfirth is a small rural town in West Yorkshire, about 5 miles (8 km) south of Huddersfield. Pronounced "Home-firth", it is at the heart of the beautiful Holme Valley.

Get in

Holmfirth is a picturesque village in Yorkshire. Nested deep into the heather moorland of the Peak District. The village is famous as the place where Last of the Summer Wine, a long-running British TV comedy, was filmed.

Get around

By train

Holmfirth no longer has a railway station so it's best to go to Huddersfield by train and then onto Holmfirth by bus. There is a railway station on the rural 'Penistone Line' in the village of Brockholes about 2–3 miles from Holmfirth.

If travelling from London, it may be advisable to depart at Wakefield Westgate. Opposite Wakefield Westgate, there's a bus (Arriva no. 435, via Bretton, Clayton West, Skelmanthorpe and Denby Dale) to Holmfirth taking about 1 hour 20 minutes.

At 5:35PM, the X41 also carries through to Holmfirth from stand 17 at Wakefield Bus Station, taking 45 minutes. A Free City Bus at the train station will take you straight to the bus station if you have a lot of luggage or if the weather is bad.

By bus

Express X10 runs at peak hours, plus an X16.

Holmfirth can easily be reached from Huddersfield by buses 20, 309, 310, 311, 312, 313, 314 and 316. Generally speaking, they each operate on an hourly basis providing plenty of buses, Watch out, some buses (313 and 312) take a convoluted route which can be up to twice as long as the direct journeys.

The services in the region run under the name "Holmfirth Connection", with all First Huddersfield services running through to Huddersfield Train Station, and the latest bus leaving the train station around ten past midnight. Tickets to Leeds, Dewsbury and Manchester can be bought straight from the driver, and timetables are generally coordinated to connect to the most popular rail routes from Huddersfield.

The "Holmfirth Connection" lines 309-311 run from Huddersfield, and the 313 provides more direct services to and from Holmfirth.

Once you are in Holmfirth. there's a local minibus service that provides journeys to various villages dotted about the valley. There's also service 20 which runs to Penistone and Barnsley and the newly introduced, direct Arriva services 435 and 436*, which run hourly to Wakefield (including Wakefield Westgate Station) via Scissett, Skelmanthorpe (service 435), Denby Dale and Shepley (service 436)*, taking around 55 minutes.

Most services go to the bus station in the town centre or from the main Huddersfield Road as well as West Bretton/Sculpture Park on evenings and Sundays.

On Saturdays only an additional service numbered 351 runs three times per day to Glossop - this continues beyond Holme (the terminus of the regular West Yorkshire buses) and through some gorgeous Peak District scenery.

See

• Last of the Summer Wine. Being the location of the long-running BBC TV series, Holmfirth attracts many fans.
  • 1 Nora Batty's steps (Scarfold), 28 Huddersfield Road (best seen from the bridge over the river from Hollowgate). 
  • 2 Sid's Café, 4A Town Gate (in the church yard). It became a café only after the TV series made the location famous. 

Do

• Folk Festival. Held annually beginning of May. 

Buy

1 Farmers market, Hollowgate. Sunday mornings in the centre of town. 

Eat

• Indya - great Indian restaurant with great write ups in the Yorkshire Post
• 1 Lou & Joes's Burger Co, 11 Victoria Square, Dunford Road, HD9 2DN, ☏ +44 1484508996, info@louandjoes.com. Noon-9PM. Burger restaurant that uses locally-sourced produce. (updated Jan 2022)

Drink

The nightlife in Holmfirth is fairly quiet when compared to larger towns. The best night would probably be Friday when the whole town does come alive. The best places for visitors would be Hervey's Wine Bar in Norridge Bottom, Carniceria in Victoria Square, and the Old Bridge Hotel beside the river.

• The Cave
• The Nook (formerly The Rose & Crown but that name never caught on) - hosts the annual beer festival held at the end of July. Popular with locals and visitors alike. Good choice of beers including CAMRA-accredited ones.
• Herveys wine bar - popular for its real ale, former CAMRA Pub of the Season.
• The Carniceria wine bar - located in an old butchers shop, can be extremely busy at weekends sometimes has live music.
• The Bridge Hotel - Next to the Picturedrome Cinema. Popular venue for weddings, etc., the hotel bar is more like a pub lounge with comfortable seating good food and a range of real ales.
• The Picturedrome - A real gem, by night either a cinema or music venue supporting a surprising range of music(with 2 bars). See website www.picturedrome.net

Sleep

• Sunnybank (rated No 1 on TripAdvisor) is a good 5 Star GOLD, B&B near the centre of Holmfirth.01484 684857
• Several B&Bs on the main road.
• Old Bridge Hotel, Market Walk, 01484 681212. Quite expensively priced but good quality.
• Holme Valley Campsite, on the road to Huddersfield in Thongsbridge, 01484 665819.
• Sunnybank Guest House (Sunnybank), Upperthong Lane, Holmfirth, ☏ +44 1484 684857. Check-in: 4:30PM, check-out: 10:30AM. A Victorian gentleman’s residence, built for the local GP, Dr. Trotter, in 1865 and situated near the centre of Holmfirth in the Holme Valley - the real star of the BBC’s Last of the Summer Wine. Surrounded by 2 acres of mature wooded gardens and with spacious car parking. Three en-suite bedrooms with TV, Wi-Fi, tea and coffee making facilities, mineral water and hair dryers. Individual rooms have additional facilities ranging from Freeview, DVD and video players to DAB radios. From £65 Dble. 

Go next

A few miles north of Holmfirth is the village of Holme where scattered cottages and farms look on to the dam which supplies water to the wider Huddersfield area. The Pennines can be seen in the distance and the road carries on into Derbyshire, past Ladybower reservoir and the town of Glossop and leads eventually into Stockport and Manchester. There are a number of villages that surround Holmfirth, including Upperthong, Netherthong, and Hepworth. It is great just to stroll round these villages which have changed little over the last 100 years. Hepworth in particular has some lovely walks and is on the Kirklees Way. The village hall in Hepworth shows a vibrant community with activities going on most days. Look at the Hepworth website for more information.