Several Thousand People Expected In Town Centre To Watch Euro Semi-Final

Thousands of football fans are expected to descend pubs and venues across the town centre tomorrow to watch Wales take on Portugal in the Euro 2016 semi finals.

Tomorrow evening will see Wales make history when they take on Portugal, with a place in the final of Euro 2016 up for grabs.

For the past few games Wrexham’s High Street has become a makeshift fan-celebration-zone with an estimated 1000 fans in the street after the Wales v Northern Ireland match and around 3000 after last Friday’s quarter final game, which saw Wales triumph over Belgium in a 3-1 victory.

However thousands more fans expected to descend on the High Street to celebrate Wales’ achievements in the semi finals tomorrow evening.

Speaking at this morning’s Town Centre Forum, Sergeant Vic Powell said: “There will be a significant police presence for Wednesday. There were 1000 fans for the Northern Ireland game which led to an impromptu road closure.

“The figure tripled for the last game. There are bigger plans in place for tomorrow as we are expecting more people out. There will be a significant presence to keep people safe from traffic.”

Various guesswork around town this afternoon had figures of 5000 or more turning out to (hopefully) celebrate.

To further ensure fan safety at the event, Wrexham Council have also confirmed this afternoon that Yorke Street will be closed to vehicles from 6pm until midnight tomorrow. The closure will be enacted by the old Black Horse pub up towards the Wynnstay.

. @wrexhamcbc is this the official unofficial fanzone?

— Wrexham.com (@wrexham) July 5, 2016

As a result of the road closure vehicle owners are being advised not to leave their cars parked on the road during the closure.

Plas Madoc have a family fanzone operating at the leisure centre, however there are a few rules and tickets do need to be bought – you can discover more by clicking here.

Central Station are holding an event in conjunction with Focus Wales, it is 500 capacity on a first come first served basis with doors opening at 6:30pm for the 8pm kick off. The match is being screened on a specially installed ‘huge elevated screen’ and sound via the club audio system. There will be a BBQ and pre-match live music from Luke Gallagher and Sam Jones. Organisers say they will also be raising funds for Nightingale House Hospice at the screening.

Full schedule for the Central Station screening below:
6:30pm DOORS OPEN and BBQ Food available
6:30pm Pre-match warm up with Welsh classics (SFA, Manics and more)
6:45pm Live Music: Luke Gallagher
7:00pm Live Music: Sam Jones
7:20pm Euro2016 Highlights Reel
7:30pm Pre-match coverage begins
8:00pm KICK-OFF

Liquid are also opening for the evening with what they think is the largest capacity venue in the town. They told us: “We have spoken to several licenses within the town & they suggested we opened to hold the remaining they couldn’t hold. We will have free entry all night & a set tariff for drinks starting at £1 to help people enjoy the night & help celebrations.

“Doors will open from 6pm to help people settle on where they wish to stand or sit. We have 5 screens situated around the room & have dropped the stage at the back of the room to enable the projector & screen to drop from the roof, the room will also be colour coordinated to the colour of our home nations kit on the pitch.”

Other bars and venues have been opening through the tournament, with Saith Seren saying: “There’ll be a great welcome as ever at Saith Seren for all Welsh and Portuguese supporters this Wednesday.”

teenagers are welcome to come and watch the games as long as they are accompanied by an adult 😊 #Wrexham #euro2016 pic.twitter.com/2csfPjTdeS

— Set The Bar (@setthebarwxm) July 4, 2016

Tenpin Bowling in Eagles Meadow are again showing the game, with some offers on for a game before the football which will be shown on their screens. The North and South Wales Bank (or Lloyds as it’s more commonly known) and OnetoFive will both be showing the game again.

The Crafty Dragon has been enjoying things, jokingly calling themselves ‘the real and original FanZone’ asking those coming to sing loud and proud!

Elsewhere on the High Street, spaces to watch the match The Bank have quickly been booked up

The Wrexham Lager Club are taking extraordinary measures by putting the Sunday Bingo on notice of probable cancellation for the Final. They are showing tomorrow’s game too, saying: “We will have our big screen in our function room on Wednesday evening, we welcome members or families of members or guests.”

#WrexhamFanzone @The_Maesgwyn on Wed 6th July, kick off 8pm. 12ft Screen, BIG Screens & 3 Bars #wrexham @wrexham pic.twitter.com/SqnlMTrRcb

— Paul Maddocks (@PaulMaddocks) July 5, 2016

There are of course many many more venues showing the game (pop us a message and we will add it in!) , and like much of the country tomorrow evening there wont be a telly without it on!

If you are out tomorrow night stay safe and enjoy it, and look after your fellow fans regardless of the result as its a win either way!

#TogetherStronger

You can relive the incredible scenes on the High Street from Wales’ spectacular 3-1 triumph over Belgium by clicking here.