Emmerdale fans that went on a 50-mile journey in the rain for a family day out to visit a village that is modelled on the ITV soap have given it a scathing review saying: "It's a bit s***."
Chris King and Zoe Brodie are big fans of the soap and decided to make the trip with their two-year-old son in tow one dreary day to see the location that was used for the soap for 20 years, reports YorkshireLive.
But social care worker Zoe said they were left hugely "disappointed" and said: "It's nothing like Emmerdale."
Her partner, Chris, agreed and said it was more like Emmerdale "20 or 30 years ago", but said the family weren't expecting to spot any of the cast strolling around as a set had since been built in Leeds.
The couple has three children in total, aged 21, 14 and two. They spent their time wandering around the small village in Esholt - where the soap was filmed between 1976 and 1996 - with their youngest son Ronnie in his pram and a big umbrella. Chris said they "thought we’d have a look around, recognise it all and have some food”.
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The village has the real-life Woolpack pub and frequently had fans visiting on coach tours before the pandemic. But the couple's mood wasn't helped by the fact the pub wasn't serving any food on the day when they visited. However, they were able to get a family snap outside the Woolpack.
Zoe said: “We didn’t know what to expect, we thought it was going to be a bit bigger. It’s bigger on the telly I suppose, it always looks bigger on the telly.
“We thought we’d see a few things that were familiar, like oh here’s where somebody [an Emmerdale character] lives, you know what I mean? Or this is where the garage is but there’s not anything like that.
“It is a bit disappointing. We are a bit like, well this is a bit s***. I mean it’s very picturesque, the buildings are really quaint. If only the weather was better.”
Chris added: “We weren’t really expecting to see the actors as I know they’ve built a set in Leeds, haven’t they? So it’s all filmed over there now. So we weren’t expecting to see the stars or anything like that. I think on the telly now, there are more new builds aren’t there?”
When filming took place in the village, the Esholt pub was originally called The Commercial Inn but was changed to The Woolpack as the landlord reportedly grew tired of having to switch the signs over for filming.
External filming originally took place in Arncliffe in the Yorkshire Dales.
Filming today takes place in the Harewood House estate in north Leeds. Filming for the fictional market town of Hotten takes place in Otley.
