Tag: Wrexham AFC

How to spent a winter-warmer weekend in Wrexham, North Wales

A winter weekend in Wrexham.

I was on assignment for the iNewspaper travel section as part of its Winter Weekend series.

The North Wales city is an unlikely hot ticket for a UK city break in 2024 — and not just for football fans.

Here’s a taster of the text:

A former industrial town in North Wales isn’t the obvious winter warmer — but Wrexham is having a moment.

When the actors Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney bought the local football club in 2020 [pictured above], it was a story worthy of a Hollywood epic for the third oldest football club in the world, dating from 1864.

Wrexham first made its name during the Industrial Revolution for its mining but, after a sprinkling of tinsel-town stardust, the industrial-heritage sites are now visitor attractions, independent businesses are reviving closed-down shops and match days draw new-found fans from across the pond.

Wrexham was granted city status in 2022 after narrowly losing out to Bradford to host the UK City of Culture 2025.

The new Football Museum for Wales is coming to the former Wrexham Museum (now closed) in 2026 and Wrexham is bidding for City of Culture 2029.

Read the whole story: The spirited North Wales city that is more than its football club.

More information from This Is Wrexham.

 

How to spend a weekend in football-loving Wrexham like a true A-list Hollywood star

Image: Telegraph Travel

Amazing scenes in Wrexham this week.

They inspired this feature about the Hollywood glamour of the formerly workaday town in Northeast Wales for Telegraph Travel.

Here’s a taster of the article.

The streets of the former industrial town in Northeast Wales were packed last night with fans from across the world cheering on the open-top bus parade from the Racecourse ground, home of Wrexham AFC.

It marked the Wrexham team securing promotion back to the English Football League after 15 years and consisted of three buses, featuring the men’s side and women’s side, which also clinched promotion.

The club’s Hollywood co-owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney [pictured above] completed the line-up, having bought the club in 2020 and transformed its fortunes.

It’s a story worthy of a Hollywood epic for the third oldest professional football club in the world, dating from 1864, and compensates for Wrexham narrowly losing out to Bradford to host the UK City of Culture 2025 last year.

Jim Jones, CEO of North Wales Tourism, says:

“You can’t put a value on the recent exposure. Wrexham is the gateway to North Wales and the whole world now wants to know the story of Wrexham and the region.”

Read the full feature via Telegraph Travel  The A-lister guide to Wrexham

Why the North Wales town of Wrexham is basking in Hollywood glamour

Another autumn feature: the unlikely tale of Wrexham as a hub for the Hollywood A-list.

Wrexham may seem an unlikely contender for frissons of Tinseltown glamour with its industrial heritage, pockmarked landscape and border-town status as the gateway to Northeast Wales.

But Wrexham is taking the spotlight.

It currently features on the eight-place longlist to be the next UK City of Culture.

The winning city, succeeding Coventry for its year in the cultural spotlight in 2025, will be announced next May.

Last weekend, meanwhile, Hollywood royalty waltzed into town in red football scarves.

Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney (pictured above), the new owners of Wrexham Association Football Club (AFC), arrived at the town’s Racecourse football ground.

It was their first home game since buying the club in February this year

Read more with my feature via Telegraph Travel, How Wrexham is reinventing itself as the Hollywood of Europe.