12 minute read
City of Wrexham
Wrexham has been very successful at getting itself in the news. In 2020, actors Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney bought the football club – which so, so nearly gained promotion this season – and last summer a huge Hollywood-style sign spelling out the town’s name appeared at Bersham Bank colliery tip, making national headlines. Distracted drivers on the A483 speculated who was behind it, until vehicle hire company Vanarama owned up.
And then, after failed attempts in 2000, 2002 and 2012, Wrexham was granted city status to mark the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee!
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The county of Wrexham has a population of 135,000, around 61,600 living in the city itself. Independent shops and bars fill the busy centre, giving it an appealing identity, and the surrounding countryside offers a variety of rural and leisure pursuits. The area is home to the internationally renowned Pontcysyllte Aqueduct, a UNESCO World Heritage site, and the stunning Erddig estate, and has a wealth of country parks and woodlands to explore. As a well-established market town, what can city status offer?
For the bid, local economic development specialists Owen Davies Consulting put together a report on the benefits the town could expect. They pointed out that: “Wrexham’s national growth zone status and unlocking the potential of the Mersey Dee city region as well as the North Wales Growth Deal, Levelling Up Fund and other government-funded programmes will help deliver our ambitions for the County Borough,” which indicates that the new status should have ongoing benefits at many levels.
Professor Maria Hinfelaar, of Wrexham Glyndwr University
A great place
City status will bring more investment and interest to Wrexham.
“Undoubtedly, on both fronts,” agreed Gill Kreft, chair and founding member of Wrexham Business Professionals, who have been championing the cause for more than a decade. “It will raise our profile and raise awareness of what a great place Wrexham really is. It gives the city the recognition it deserves as the commercial capital of North Wales.”
Gill is director of Pendine Park Care Organisation and has lived and worked in Wrexham since 1985, when Pendine opened its first care home, Gwern Alyn. She added: “The magic of city status will rub off on everyone in Wrexham, including Pendine Park. I am sure it will also help in terms of recruitment and retention of staff, as it will make Wrexham an even better place to live and work. “It’s not just about putting Wrexham on the map – being a city will provide an effective lever for attracting inward investment and new jobs that will help the whole area thrive and prosper.
“The fact that Wrexham AFC has been bought by Hollywood A-listers has added a bit of magic and stardust. It feels like the stars have aligned to create a once-in-a-generation opportunity for a new beginning for Wrexham.” “It’s not just about putting A definite buzz Wrexham on the map. Being “It feels like it’s turning a corner.” – Revd Canon Dr Jason Bray a city will provide an effective St Giles’ parish church is one of lever for attracting inward Wrexham’s most iconic landmarks, investment and new jobs” visible from miles around. The vicar, the Revd Canon Dr Jason Bray, has been in Wrexham for seven years, and during that time has seen the place develop more of a buzz. “Some of it comes from the takeover of Wrexham AFC, but some of it just comes from a place that feels like it’s turning a corner,” he said. “St Giles’ is the largest medieval parish church in Wales and was described by Sir Simon Jenkins as “the Glory of the Marches”, so lots of people have asked if it will become a cathedral, and the answer is no – we’d need a bishop – but being the civic church of a city can’t be a bad thing. “I think being a city will help to enhance the idea that Wrexham is a good place to visit, but isn’t the only thing, by any means. There was a lot of negativity before the Gill Kreft, director, decision, but what I’m hearing now is Pendine Park Care positive. Most of all, what we need to do is Organisation work together to ensure that now it’s a city, The Revd Canon it’s the best place it can be for the people Dr Jason Bray, who live here and for visitors and tourists.” vicar of St Giles’ Sense of pride
Positive development
“Everybody wants to live and work in a place that is developing and has ambitions.” – Professor Maria Hinfelaar
Professor Hinfelaar has lived in Wrexham since March 2016, when she took up her current role as vice-chancellor and chief executive of Wrexham Glyndwr University. She thinks the change to city status will be a really positive development.
“City status for Wrexham finally recognises its position as the largest population centre in North Wales – it was an anomaly that two other locations in North Wales held city status before Wrexham did,” she told us. “It is great news for the university, as it will give us a clearer place on the map when we promote our programmes nationally and internationally. After all, we carry the name Wrexham in the name of our university.’ Professor Hinfelaar thinks the city is on a roll. “We have seen the announcement of improved infrastructure for tourists coming to our world heritage site Pontcysyllte, government funding for regeneration projects, and an exciting bid coming together for Levelling Up funding for the Wrexham Gateway. We already have a strong and diverse industry base with many multinational companies and SMEs in a whole range of sectors: engineering, pharmaceuticals, food manufacturing, sports equipment. These companies have survived and thrived in spite of the challenges of recent times. There is a really strong basis already, and city status can build on that further.”
She is optimistic about Wrexham’s future. “I think there is a renewed sense of optimism and momentum. You only need to look at how well we did in the City of Culture 2025 competition – we were pipped at the post and should definitely go for it again when the 2029 round begins.”
“It’s a win, win and win for Wrexham” – Ian Edwards, director of Allington Hughes Law and lifelong resident
As a long-standing member of Wrexham Business Professionals, who has lived in Wrexham all his life, Ian Edwards thinks the change to city status will have a hugely positive impact on all Wrexham businesses, including his own, while the outward ripple of the economic benefits will extend well beyond the city limits.
“We will be able to tap into grants that are only available to cities, and attract more inward investment,” he said. “That =
investment will help existing companies grow and encourage new start-ups, all of which will need legal services. “On a personal level, it gives me a real sense of pride that Wrexham is now a city, especially because of the part Wrexham Business Professionals played in achieving the goal. All the evidence from other towns to have been awarded city status points to increased inward investment, a boost to tourism and a raised profile, so it’s a win, win and win for Wrexham.” Ian Edwards, director, Allington Hughes Law Ian hopes that the new status will also help give the people living and working in Wrexham more self-belief and confidence by confirming Wrexham as the commercial capital of North Wales. “There were some who objected to the notion of city status,” he said. “I hope the reality of the benefits it will bring wins them over and they become enthusiastic ambassadors for the new metropolis.”
Great prosperity
“This can only bring positives for Wrexham and the businesses we boast.” – Mayor Cameron
DID YOU KNOW? The churchyard houses the grave of Elihu Yale, who gave his name to Yale University
Mayor of Wrexham, Cllr Brian Cameron, was delighted to hear the news that Wrexham had been granted city status as part of the Queen’s 70th Jubilee celebrations. “Having this status will hopefully add to the great prosperity we’ve been receiving of late in what is now our wonderful city. We’ve much to celebrate here in Wrexham and we are going from strength to strength. I look forward to seeing Wrexham build upon this opportunity and continue to flourish.”
Andy Dunbobbin, police and crime commissioner for North Wales agreed. “Wrexham is a place I know well, having family connections to the area, and the campaign for city status demonstrated so much about what makes Wrexham and its residents unique,” he said. “I am determined this should be a safe and secure city for residents and visitors alike and, with this in mind, we have secured hundreds of thousands of pounds of funding to improve CCTV coverage, create safer spaces for women and girls, as well as providing training and education to different groups.” Civic pride
Cllr Brian Cameron, Mayor of Wrexham
Left: St Giles’ Parish Church “St Giles’ is Wrexham’s iconic building, the
Glory of the Marches and the largest medieval parish church in Wales”
Andy Dunbobbin, police and crime commissioner for North Wales
“I hope that city status continues to raise the profile of Wrexham and helps make it an even safer, more welcoming place for all.” – Andy Dunbobbin
Civic pride is no new sentiment, and Jonathan Gammond, interpretation and exhibitions officer at Wrexham Museum said that applying for city status would have been an easy decision for the great and the good of Victorian Wrexham.
“The town’s leaders who campaigned in the late 1840s and 1850s to incorporate the borough of Wrexham and establish a borough council had a total confidence in the town,” he explained. “They saw Wrexham as the capital of North Wales. This confidence has ebbed and flowed over the intervening period. Overall, Wrexham has understood the importance of maintaining a high profile and what has to be done to achieve such a goal, for instance hosting National Eisteddfodau, organising drama, arts, industry, science and music festivals, and even producing promotional films that can be seen in Wrexham Museum’s latest exhibition, ‘Putting Wrexham on the Map’.”
The sound of the firing pistol
Wrexham Museum played its part in the bid for city status through highlighting Wrexham’s history and heritage.
Not all of the townsfolk supported those early ambitions, Jonathan told us. “In fact there were many campaigners, especially among the propertied classes, who opposed Wrexham becoming a borough in 1857, with petitions to Parliament and lobbying to ensure the borough’s boundaries did not include their homes. Even the local newspaper was
DID YOU KNOW? The Acton Dogs are four statues installed on the gateway to the former Acton Hall in 1820
Right: a statue at Wrexham Museum in tribute to the Acton Dogs
against the plans, preferring to stick to the ancien régime of the county Justices of the Peace, and spreading scare stories that taxes would be levied to pay for this new-fangled borough corporation!” Jonathan explained that whilst more recent bids to secure city status in 2000, 2002 and 2012 fell at the hurdle of community opposition, the buzz around the UK City of Culture 2025 bid, an unrelated competition, somehow changed the dynamic. “Highlighting Wrexham’s history and heritage was an important criterion when it came to the judges’ decision,” he said. “As for city status, it is not an award to be placed in a glass cabinet or on a mantelpiece – it is the sound of the firing pistol in the next stage of Wrexham’s development.”
Inward investment
“It’s time to embrace the opportunity and see what we can do collectively to make the most of it.” – Katie Williams, Xplore!
Xplore! Science Discovery Centre inspires young minds in and out of the classroom, covering all aspects of science, technology, engineering and maths. Business development officer Katie Williams has lived in Wrexham for 17 years. Katie Williams, business development officer, “In the longer term I’m hopeful that having city status will bring Xplore! science centre inward investment into Wrexham,” she said. “From research that has been cited, it seems that some newly awarded cities have seen levels of business growth that their neighbours didn’t. If there’s an opportunity to be had, then my attitude is to grab it.
“The question now, I suppose, is how and where those opportunities are going to present themselves. This may be in terms of international companies favouring investment in cities, or with students favouring to study in a city, or Wrexham being highlighted in more tourism guides, bringing more people in. Whichever angle you come from, surely now that city status has been granted, it’s time to embrace it and to see what we can do collectively to make the most of it.”
Profile is key
“We will build upon our proud heritage and place that at the heart of our future.” – Cllr Mark Pritchard
Leader of Wrexham Council, Cllr Mark Pritchard, wanted to thank the executive board colleagues who supported the submission, and the staff involved in putting such a high-quality bid together: Ian Bancroft who led the team; Rebeccah Lowry, Andrew Harradine and Gwyn Jones, and their
Leader of the Council, Cllr Mark Pritchard external support from Owen Davies. Although no funds are attached to the city award, it is considered prestigious and an opportunity to raise the profile of Wrexham regionally, nationally and internationally.
“It may always be a market town for some and we are proud of that. Through redevelopment of our Victorian markets we will build upon our proud heritage and place that at the heart of our future.”
Mark explained that whilst the title alone will not make this difference, the vision for Wrexham is to repurpose and regenerate city centre properties, to enable the development of the health sector and bring health services into the centre, and with improved travel infrastructure to become greener, with comprehensive active travel routes across the county borough and into neighbouring counties.
The cachet of being a city
The last word goes to Ceidiog Hughes of PR firm Ceidiog Communication, and a member of Wrexham Business Professionals.
“I am a Wrexham boy, born and bred, and we have several high-profile clients in the area, so I was thrilled when it was announced we had finally achieved the holy grail of city status,” he said. “This is brilliant news on so many different levels. Apart from the cachet of being a city, it will bring a host of economic benefits, creating future prosperity for generations. “Call me greedy if you will but I also have another couple of items on my wishlist. Next for me would be for Wrexham AFC to gain promotion Ceidiog Hughes, managing director, Ceidiog Communication into the Football League after more than a decade in the wilderness of the National League. We missed out at the end of last season, but our Hollywood owners will, I am certain, ensure we succeed next time and, hopefully, ascend all the way to the Premier League.
“We made it to the shortlist for City of Culture 2025 but were pipped at the post by Bradford. I am hoping we can go one better in 2029 and win the main prize, which would provide another incredible boost for Wrexham. Now, that would be a memorable hat-trick.”
