The Rotherham Bugle

There was excitement in Rotherham this week as a number of residents reported sightings of a hipster in the town centre. If confirmed, it’s the first time that a hipster of either sex of has been spotted this far north.

Gladys Kay from Catcliffe was one of the first to report seeing the hipster ” I went to London once,” she told us “so I know what they look like. He was riding past W H Smith on a fixed gear bike sporting an ironic shaggy beard.” Dave Douglas from Dalton also spotted what appears to be the same man. “He’d got off the bike and was on foot when I saw him.” he said “He was wearing thick rimmed glasses, a beanie hat a baggy check shirt, braces and knackered boots. I’ve see them on telly, he was definitely a hipster.”

Hipster culture sprung up in the United States before spreading to Europe and then the south of England. It’s an urban bohemian movement that shuns the mainstream and instead promotes and presents a cool counter culture approach with respect  to dress, politics, art, sexual roles and physical attraction.

Hilary Head-Rodgers  council spokesperson for cultural affairs, cast doubt on the sightings though. “This is Rotherham.” she told us. “There are no hipsters here. It’s just a stinking tramp. He’s called Neil and there’s enough food in that beard to feed an African village. On no account get down wind of him.”

The controversy will remind regular readers of a story we covered a couple of years ago when there were reports of a homosexual being spotted in the Domine Lane area, but it turned out to be a bricklayer from Bramley on his way to a David Bowie tribute evening.

* Have you spotted a hipster or a homosexual in Rotherham? If so, let us know here at The Bugle and we’ll follow it up.