Happy Valley 's main location Hebden Bridge was one of Michael Portillo 's stops in an episode of his BBC show Great British Railway Journeys. While the town looks incredibly picturesque the politician turned presenter explained that in the 1950s it had slipped into deprivation. The pretty railway station, which retains many of the original fittings, belies this but Michael revealed that the area wasn't always so desirable.
"Hebden Bridge is a beautiful and sought after location, but in the 1950s the mill town was in decline," he said as he walked through the village. In the 1950s it was in such a state that one time Poet Laureate Ted Hughes wrote a grim poem about it called Stubbing Wharfe in which he referred to the town as “the hopeless old stone trap”. Michael addressed this in the episode.
"He [Hughes] referred to the caved in history of the valley the graveyard of old mills, the fouled nest on which the Industrial Revolution had departed," he reflected. "But the thousands of tourists who come here take a brighter view. They relish the honey covered stone of the old factories and the variegated greens of the veil," he added.
Just 45 minutes from Manchester Picadilly it has become incredibly popular with visitors since Happy Valley as fans flock to see where their favourite show was filmed. Part of the town's charm is the lack of chain stores and franchises. "The streets and squares are lined with independent shops," Michael confirmed.
"And Hebden Bridge's location eq.