Pride In Wrexham – ‘Don’t Let A Few Bad Apples Ruin It’

In the last few weeks a number of incidents have taken place in and around the town that have caused many to wonder what is happening to Wrexham, with some voicing concerns over their personal safety.

Recently there has been the tragic event in The Cambrian pub, plus other incidents including an assault in Erddig and a wanted man found camped out in Rossett.

The events have resulted in negative reports and comments about the town. However many in Wrexham feel that the isolated incidents should not be representative of the area as a whole, and that in fact Wrexham is a good place to live, work and shop.

Officers working with Wrexham County Borough Council’s community cohesion team have stepped up town centre patrols as two men who were arrested in Chester St yesterday were released on police bail pending further inquiries.

Superintendent Dave Owens said of the Chester St incident: “This was totally unacceptable behaviour and we would like to reassure the public that we are carrying out a thorough investigation into yesterday’s incident.

“We do not expect a reoccurrence and we are carrying out high visibility patrols to reassure the public.  I would encourage  anyone with concerns to speak to officers and anyone with information to call 101.”

Lisa Lock, the landlady of the Old Vaults Pub, took to Facebook to deny reports there was a mass brawl in her pub. Excessive reports were criticised with the ‘fifty people brawling’ figure that was initially published elsewhere being strongly denied – as one Wrexham.com’er was walking past as it ‘kicked off’ we can confirm there were around 10-15 people involved. As we reported, we saw the incident occurring in the street outside the pub in Chester St and far from reports of people fleeing the area, we saw quite a few trying to go through police cordons to go about their business.

Speaking of media reports people hiding away and being scared to enter town, Rob Clarke from Mad for Movies in the Butchers’ Market said: “They should think about traders in the town because it was an incident that got out of hand and was dealt with.

“It’s a social problem and a one off incident, we need to put the pride back in the town”.

Wrexham as a town has a population of around 60,000 people and the county borough contains around 130,000 people. In terms of population the town is the 8th biggest in Wales, and the biggest in North Wales. Even using quite excessive estimates the recent events involve around just 0.08% of the population of the town, or 0.03% of the wider area.

Yesterday a Facebook page titled “Change Wrexham For Our Future” was set up by Beth Bennett, and has generated over 1000 followers in the past 24 hours – you can find the page here.

The page was set up due to the level of negativity the town has received recently and is encouraging people to comment on what they feel is wrong with the town and how it could be improved. A similar debate has been taking place on the Wrexham.com Forum’s since January – you can read the thread and 43 replies here.

So far some of the suggestions on the Facebook page include street parties, a Wrexham Day and potential changes to the night time culture in the town centre. The page has also encouraged people to contribute success stories for the town, such as the unity of the fans and Wrexham football club and the success of Wrexham Lager as a brand.

Speaking about the page Beth said: “Today has been immense in the response we have had and this just shows how much the people of Wrexham care about our town, and we shouldn’t let a few bad apples ruin it all”.

“There have been some great ideas for things to improve Wrexham on there and I am trying my best to find things out and am willing to go and put things to the Council Executive board too.”

We would like to hear and highlight your positive stories, so please get in touch by clicking here, or to join in a debate about changing negative perceptions click here.

(It is worth saying today Wrexham.com’ers worked, shopped and ate in and around town – and even with the rain it was a lovely day.)