Town Centre Partnership Praised Following ‘Tremendous’ Bank Holiday Weekend

The work of town centre licensees, North Wales Police and Wrexham Council has been praised following a successful Bank Holiday Weekend – which saw thousands descend on the town centre to enjoy the night life. 

The Nightsafe scheme, which is a collaborative project involving town centre licensees, North Wales Police and Wrexham Council aims to create a positive atmosphere for the night time economy and keep those visiting the town centre safe.

Preparations for the Bank Holiday Weekend had been ongoing for the past couple of months, with the Sunday evening predicted to be the biggest night in Wrexham Town Centre outside of the festive period. As a result Town Hill was closed to vehicles throughout the evening to help ensure the safety of pedestrians and a welfare centre was funded by licencees for the night, to help those who had perhaps had too much drunk, been separated from their friends or needed assistance in getting a taxi home.

Only a small number of arrests were made in relation to minor matters throughout the evening. A further arrest was made with regards to an assault in the town centre.

Arguably one of the more prominent crimes committed on the evening was the theft of Doris, a sheep who is visiting Wrexham as part of the celebrations for the Tour of Britian. Two people were arrested for the theft within a couple of minutes and have since been bailed.

Speaking at yesterday’s Town Centre Forum Meeting, Inspector Paul Wycherley said: “Planning for busiest night time economy for bank holiday. Tremendous example on Sunday of town being full, very few recorded incidents. Extra officers and CCTV was in use. 7 arrests all for minor matters aside from 1 assault. Over three thousand in town that night. Was a success

Mr Lucas accompanied Inspector Paul Wycherley and others to see the impact that Night Safe’s work is having in the town.

As part of the evening a promotional video of Wrexham Town Centre and what the night time economy has to offer was also filmed, with the aim of showing that Wrexham is not ‘all doom and gloom’.

During the evening Wrexham MP Ian Lucas accompanied Inspector Paul Wycherley to observe the night safe partnership and see the work it does for the town.

Speaking after the event, Mr Lucas said:  “One of the key things to the Night Safe scheme is the way it brings various groups together. For instance, I have done a lot of work with Wrexham’s Street Pastors over the past few years, and it was great to see them as part of the scheme.

“The centre set up by the Red Cross at the bottom of Town Hill was also very impressive, and of course the police presence – which was low-key yet high-visibility – also helped maintain a good atmosphere in the town. I certainly felt safe throughout the evening.

“Making sure that these groups, the police, the council and others are all working together – with licensees very much part of that group –  is hugely important. By all working together, the Night Safe partnership does more than each group would do working alone. From what I saw during the evening, Night Safe certainly lives up to its name.”

The work of Nightsafe was also praised in yesterday’s Town Centre Forum, with some members stating that often the work and business the night time economy generates for the town centre is often forgotten about.

Manager of Eagles Meadow, Kevin Critchley, who is also part of the Nightsafe community said: “Can I put credit where it’s due, which is Nightsafe, they are part of crime link have done a heck of a lot of work on it. It;s a standard all night time economy have to meet and they self police themselves to the quality.

“They did a lot of extra work and are using own money to cover and offer that extra safety service. If you remember at Christmas we did the safe Wrexham campaign and we are looking at Safe Wrexham as something we should promote all year, day and night rather than just Christmas. Compared to a lot of places, Wrexham is a very safe place and don’t think we talk about that a lot.”

*Picture – Inspector Wycherley Twitter Account