New Plan For Wrexham Beach – No Council Money Involved

Plans to bring a beach to the town centre have been revived, with the hope that no council involvement will head off any negativity.

The highly debated and somewhat ‘infamous’ Wrexham Beach idea was raised again at this months Town Centre Forum by James de Koning of Grand Prix Dodgems, who said that he would like to host a beach event on Queens Square in August.

Mr de Koning said: “The beach would link in with the Play Day or would run for a couple of weeks in August. I think I could pull it off.”

The ‘Beach’ idea was one that was greatly discussed and debated since it was initially suggested exactly a year ago in last December’s Town Centre Forum. This later evolved into joining the beach idea with the annual Play Day event on Queens Square and Llwyn Isaf.

Beach days have been successfully run across parts of the country for the past few years, with the annual beach event in Birmingham attracting a high volume of people when the event runs.

However due to negative publicity from the press (not from Wrexham.com!) and public backlash about how much the beach would cost to run, it was subsequently scrapped. Although it must be noted that bizarrely a successful beach event that took place in Buckley over the summer received a far more positive response from the same press.

Unlike the proposed beach idea that was scrapped this year, this event would be funded by the private sector, meaning that no Council money would be spent on funding the event which was the main sticking point from public comment we had seen.

Speaking to Wrexham.com at the end of the meeting, Mr deKoning said that if the event goes ahead, it will bring everything you traditionally expect to find at a beach to Wrexham. This would include deckchairs, sand and a play area on Queens Square, while donkey rides, candy floss stalls and fairground rides would take place on Llwyn Isaf.

Mr deKoning  added: “It will benefit the people of Wrexham and also businesses in the town.”

The previous attempt to have a town centre beach resulted in several pages of debate on the Wrexham.com forums – so we have started a new thread for the Beach 2014 debate – you can find it and take part by clicking here…

(The picture above was taken at the Wrexham Play Day that took place back in August, which didn’t have a beach, but did have a giant sandpit!)