Wrexham’s Beating Heart: A Tour of the City’s Revival

Behind Wrexham’s recent fame, there’s a close-knit community that’s weathered decades of economic hardship. On this walking tour, I’ll show you the town through a local’s eyes, discovering the neighbourhoods, immigrant communities, and everyday places that make this North Wales border town feel like home to residents like me.

Starting at the STōK Racecourse, where generations of families have gathered on matchdays, you’ll explore the streets where real Wrexham life happens. You’ll visit local pubs where different communities meet, the cafés run by Portuguese and Italian families, and the markets where residents have shopped for generations.

This tour isn’t about grand historical monuments – it’s about understanding how ordinary people built an extraordinary sense of place in a town that outsiders often overlooked. The tour ends at Tŷ Pawb, where former market stalls have become art galleries and community spaces.

On this 60-minute tour, you’ll have a chance to:

• Spot the Wrexham Miners Project, now a community café where volunteers serve breakfast and preserve the memory of local coal mining heritage
• Have a drink at one of the neighbourhood pubs that define Wrexham social life, from the Magic Dragon Brewery Tap to the Royal Oak (known as “the Polish Embassy”)
• Explore Victorian shopping arcades where local businesses still operate, including the atmospheric Overton Arcade with its craft beer pub
• Learn about the Williams-Wynn family’s lasting influence on local architecture, from the Wynnstay Arms to the former Infirmary building, part of the Wrexham Maelor Hospital
• Visit the Ryan Reynolds Memorial Park, a community space that represents how residents embrace change while maintaining their identity
• See where Charles Street once led to the bustling Beast Market, where farmers sold livestock for centuries
• Hear about Tŷ Pawb’s transformation from struggling market to thriving cultural center, complete with salvaged Hippodrome cinema fixtures

By the end of this tour, you’ll have a sense of why locals cherish this place so deeply. You’ll also understand how their unwavering community spirit created the foundation for everything that followed – including the global attention that surprised and delighted the world.