Entertainment Wrexham, Odeon Cinema North Wales

Wrexham > Culture

Arts

Wrexham hosted the National Eisteddfod in 1888, 1912, 1933 and 1977, as well as an unofficial National Eisteddfod event in 1876. Wrexham has a number of theatres, including the Grove Park Theatre on Vicarage Hill, the Riverside Studio Theatre at Wrexham Musical Theatre Society on Salop Road and the Yale Studio theatre close to Llwyn Isaf. The main Arts centre is at Wrexham County Library, with others at NEWI in Plas Coch and Yale College. There is a multi-screen Odeon cinema in the Plas Coch retail park just outside the town centre, with another planned at the new Eagles Meadow development - due to open 2008. The nearby town of Llangollen holds the International Musical Eisteddfod every July.

Science

Every March the town hosts the Wrexham Science Festival. Over 9000 visitors attended events in 2007, making the event one of the biggest of its kind.

Wrexham is also home to a branch of Techniquest, known as Techniquest@newi. The science discovery centre is situated within NEWI’s Plas Coch campus.

Music

Wrexham has built a vibrant music scene over the last few years. In 2007 it featured on BBC Radio One’s Steve Lamacq show, and regularly features on the Welsh music portion of the station. The main live music venue in Wrexham is Central Station, a club with a capacity of approximately 650, attracting touring bands from across the country. Since its opening in 2000 the venue has played host to hundreds of acts, including The Charlatans, the Scratch Perverts, Ash, The View, The Wildhearts, Mansun, Shed Seven, The Wonder Stuff, Skindred, Supersuckers, Moscow, Bloc Party, Hundred Reasons, Grandmaster Flash, Electric Six, Trashlight Vision, The Fall, Budgie, The Blackout, Kids in Glass Houses, Rooster and Robert Plant.

Another live music venue in Wrexham is the William Aston Hall at NEWI. It hosts concerts and live entertainment. This 900-seat venue has recently undergone extensive refurbishment, and is now designed to accommodate a range of events from conferences and exhibitions to theatrical performances and pop/rock concerts. Acts who have performed there in the past include Super Furry Animals, Love, Ray Davies, Funeral for a Friend, Freddie Starr and Sweet. Other music venues in the town include the Old Swan on Abbot Street, and the Goulbourne in Borras.

Media

Wrexham’s newspapers include the daily Wrexham Evening Leader, the weekly free Wrexham Mail, and the weekly broadsheet Wrexham Leader, often known as the "Big Leader". Two radio stations serve the town; the FM licence is Marcher Sound and the local medium wave station is Classic Gold Marcher, both based in shared studios on Mold Road. These studios are also home to a number of other regional radio stations broadcasting to the North Wales coast and the Wirral. A ’Media’ quarter has developed within the towns’ Civic Centre where television stations BBC Wales, ITV Wales and S4C have studios or bureaux for their regional news services.

Shopping

The main shopping areas in Wrexham are; Abbot Street, Bank Street, Henblas Street, King Street, Regent Street, Overton Arcade, Hope Street and Queen Street. A cluster of retail parks are situated around the inner ring road at the Central and Border retail parks. Plas Coch and Berse retail parks are situated on the outskirts close to the A483.

In 1999, almost at a stroke, Wrexham town centre added over 250,000 square feet of retail shopping space when the Henblas Square and Island Green developments were completed. In 2008 a 400,000 square feet development will be completed at Eagles Meadow. This will increase Wrexham’s shopping catchment to half a million shoppers. Committed stores to the development include Debenhams, Marks & Spencer, H&M, Next, River Island, TenPin and Odeon. The new development will be connected to Yorke Street / High Street by an iconic bridge.

Traditional markets - There are three covered markets (Beast, Butchers and Peoples Market’s) plus North Wales’ largest open air market based in the town centre each Monday (including Bank Holidays).

Wrexham boasts the most used Shopmobility Service in North Wales, which is free. Much of the Wrexham Town Centre is pedestrianised.

There are short stay car parks adjacent to the town centre. Long-stay parking is available at St. Marks (NCP) at the northern end of Regent Street or the larger surface park (WCBC)

Food & Drink

There is a variety of restaurants within the town centre, including Anise, The Beeches, Dao Siam, Domellis Italian restaurant, Hong Kong House, Jamuna Tandoori, The Lemon Tree, Perelli’s, and The Sleepy Panda.

It is said Wrexham has more pubs in proportion to its population then anywhere else in Britain.

Nightlife

Wrexham has a vibrant nightlife mainly centred around the older original parts of the town close to the St. Giles Church along High Street, Town Hill and Brook Street. Some of the more popular bars include Lloyds, Bar Cuprum, Golden Lion, Yates, Milliners, Harveys, Fat Cat Cafe Bar, Chequers, Bar 1-5, Barracuda, Yales Cafe/Bar, Honky Tonks, the Commercial, The Cambrian Vaults, South Central, Chicago Rock Cafe and Club K1. Nightclubs include Liquid, Envy, Scotts, Central Station (including live music venue), the great Chicago Rock Cafe and the Centenary Club (at Wrexham FC)