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Hebden Bridge in the Media

Since 1995, when the HebWeb first started, we have been regularly covering features from the national media which illustrate how our town of Hebden Bridge, and its surrounding area, is seen outside of this valley. Here is a selection:

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• Crystal Wilde: Finding peace in hippie Hebden Bridge: "Hippies, hikers, kooky cafes, drugs and lesbians: my home town of Hebden Bridge is notorious for many reasons, some more surprising than others." See feature in The Independent (from April 2021)
• 'Greatest Town in Europe' - Culture Trip gives 12 Reasons why Hebden Bridge 'is known as the greatest town in Europe'. Read article (from May 2018)

• Why I escaped to Hebden Bridge. When landscape designer Jack Wallington and his partner saw a certain farmhouse in Pecket Well, they knew it was time to swap London for the countryside. Read Guardian article May 2021
• BBC's Interior Design Masters transforms two shops in Hebden Bridge - hosted by comedian Alan Carr and judged by design expert Michelle Ogundehin,  the designers helped to completely transform the Chapter 17 restaurant and Square One Coffee Co cafe. Watch this episode from March 2021.
• The case for making Hebden Bridge the UK's second city, BBC article by Evan Davis. "Hebden Bridge is an inverted city with a greenbelt centre and suburbs called Manchester, Leeds and Liverpool." Read the article - from March 2014
• When BBC Any Questions came to Hebden Bridge - August 2012 live from our newly re-opened Town Hall, with the first question on squatting from HebWeb editor.
• Hebden Bridge - 'the best place to live according to science' - "Thanks to its family-friendly attractions, culture, safety, and infrastructure, the data revealed that the market town of Hebden Bridge in Yorkshire, just eight miles from Halifax, is the best place to live in the UK." See this Daily Express feature
• Huffington Post on Hebden Bridge: "You will find a town that was almost abandoned, but brought back to life by hippies, artists and lesbians looking for a place to make a life." Written by Sean Pert, who continues: "The town doesn't just tolerate its LGBT+ community, it values and embraces us." Read more From Feb 2019
• Lindsey Rimer: Sister of murdered girl makes appeal 21 years after disappearance. Juliet Rimer makes emotional appeal for information about death of sister Lindsay Jo, whose body was found in canal in 1995. See Guardian article from April 2016, and HebWeb feature
• Best Small Market Town - Hebden Bridge was crowned Best Small Market Town at the Great British High Street Awards. It was in recognition of its resilience and community spirit following last year's devastating Boxing Day floods. from Dec 2016
• The Boxing Day Flood of 2015 attracted considerable media attention. Here's a BBC report from one month on. See also the HebWeb Feature and this George Monbiot article on how grouse shooting aggravates the problem
• Hebden Bridge features in The Times list of trendiest cities, villages and market towns in which to live. (March 2015)
• Australian View of Hebden Bridge: from The West Australian - "This once-dying mill town reinvented itself as a beacon of alternative living; a quirky commuter hub where artists, writers, hippies and new-age gurus rub shoulders with teachers, estate agents and earthy Yorkshire folk". Read the article. From Jan 2015
• Yorkshire Life: 10 reasons to love Hebden Bridge (From June 2013)
• Hebden Bridge: the coolest place to live in Britain, according to The Times on 19 March 2013. Read more
• Radio 4 comes to Heptonstall - iPlayer link to Ramblings

• The Real Happy Valley might look like a pretty village but it hides dark secrets. "Documentary maker Jez Lewis grew up there and his 2009 film Shed Your Tears And Walk Away looked at drug abuse in a town where many friends had died. It was his programme that inspired scriptwriter Sally Wainwright – who lived nearby – to set about writing Happy Valley." See this Daily Mirror feature from 2016

• Teacher wins three-year battle to clear name after publishing racy novel - Governors accused Miss Rustamova of bringing the school into disrepute, undermining its authority and demeaning pupils and parents. See this Daily Mail article from February 2012 (and this HebWeb feature)
• The proposed Garden Street development attracted wife media attention. See how the HebWeb covered the issue in 2004-2010
• Hebden Bridge's "delightfully relaxed vibe"
  There's nothing not to like about Hebden Bridge. Once a hippy retreat, this little West Yorkshire town might have shed its dreadlocks and wholemeal image, but it's maintained a delightfully relaxed vibe. Given all the rain we've had of late, it's looking more lush than ever; verdant greenery forms the perfect backdrop to terraces of stone houses that look straight out of a Brontë novel. It's oh-so-bucolic and oh-so-pretty, but, as the locals would no doubt remind you, capable of contemporary cool, with wine bars and traditional boozers mingling on the high street. From the Metro From August 2008
• Hebden Bridge is the UK town with most local identity "Hebden Bridge once again features in the national media - for topping the list of towns with the most individuality - at a time when many of our well known towns and cities are turning into clones with the same high street branches of chain stores in every high street." From HebWeb news, June 2005
• "In the upper reaches of the Calder Valley lies Jumble Hole Clough, a steep wooded valley embracing a fast-flowing stream which tumbles off the high moorland. Near the head of the clough stands a mute reminder of the early days of the Industrial Revolution, in the shape of ruins of a small water-powered mill which is slowly being engulfed by the surrounding foliage." from the Guardian's Country Diary From Nov 2003
• "With its apparent seclusion from the rest of the world, Hebden has a tendency to breed introverts and other colourful personalities. It bucks the trend of other higher populated and trend- setting Yorkshire towns with effortless ease and style". From Deep in the Heart of Yorkshire by Alex Clark in Hackwriters.com - May 2005

Hebden Bridge is the 4th funkiest town in the world according to a feature in the April 2005 issue of highlife, the British Airways flight magazine - see above.

• "Tantamount to Soddom and Gomorrah (Sir Bernard Ingham), The Hampstead of the North’, or just another tourist trap? Hazel Davis investigates". Hazel Davis investigates in Take it to the Bridge from The Leeds Guide from October 2002
• Acre Mill ensured asbestos killed hundreds of local people. See Dust Storm, a Daily Telegraph feature on Acre Mill by Mark Piggott from 2007. The Acre Mill tragedy has been described as Britain's worst industrial disasters. See also: this HebWeb feature
• Chainsaw Tuesday: There was fighting in the back streets of Hebden Bridge after developers started cutting down trees at Mill Pond at the back of Windsor View. It was at the height of the property boom and developers were buying up any scrap of land they could find. Media interest was intense in October 2004. Radio Leeds, Yorkshire Evening Post, Halifax Courier, HB Times and Radio4's You and Yours were among those who covered the conflict.
• First first cooperative internet service provider - 3-C was the first to bring broadband to Hebden Bridge in October 2004, after a long campaign. See this Guardian article and this HebWeb News item: 3-C Beam Wireless Broadband to Mytholmroyd
• How the Hippies changed Hebden Bridge - While there was plenty of media attention, this was before the Internet so there are no active links. See the HebWeb "Hippies" section covering the arrival of the "hippies" to Hebden Bridge in the 1970s.

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This feature is a work in progress, and will be updated regularly. Last updated: Friday, 5 November 2021