Calls To Expand Already Bigger Than Ever Victorian Market

One of the biggest events in Wrexham’s calendar returned yesterday in an expanded format – with the event’s increasing popularity resulting in calls to develop it further.

Throughout the day thousands of visitors and shoppers flocked to St Giles Church to take a wander through the Christmas stalls and take in the festive cheer.

Set along Church Street and the grounds of St Giles Church, over 75 stalls were on hand throughout the day – selling everything from hot mulled wine (and cider!), tasty cakes and homemade gifts.

St Giles Church also played host to a number of local stalls and live music, with many visitors taking the chance to take a break from the hustle and bustle of the market to enjoy the Christmas choirs and brass band.

For the first time ever the High Street was incorporated into the Victorian Market, with children’s fairground rides and games on offer. The expansion to High Street had previously been mooted but red tape had been blamed for not doing it – something that was not an issue this year.

The Victorian Market had a positive knock-on effect to businesses across the town centre, many of which stayed open for late night shopping. One local trader told Wrexham.com that the footfall to their shop had been up throughout the day.

Destination Manager at Wrexham County Borough Council, Joe Bickerton said: “It was a great evening, traders reported that they had a great day/evening, tower tours proved popular and crowds definitely seemed up from previous years.

“Extra space on High St really helped and a lot reported struggling for car park spaces – so hopefully other town centre businesses will have benefitted too.”

He added: “The event continues to grow each year and interestingly attracts a large mix of the local community plus visitors from across a wider area who visited the town yesterday as part of coach trips and day excursions. Hopefully that will have benefitted other town businesses too.

Several people had commented after the queues and rammed areas – despite the expansion on to High Street – that it could be worth looking at a multi-day event rather than half day current one, Mr Bickerton said, “The debate continues about making it more than a one day event, but with such a busy schedule at St Giles and the cost involved with overnight security etc – it does prove difficult.

“However each year – we’ll continue to look to keep improving and adding to our festive events calendar. It leads us nicely into our final Christmas event next week – the arrival of the Christmas Tipi on Queens Square (14-17th).”

Thanks to the Wrexham Council Events Team for some of the images featured above!