The reason for the decline of Wrexham’s town centre is a hot topic, with many blaming the internet but as Liam Gotting finds out, from business owners shoppers and the council, all agree something has to be done, with some rather optimistic for what the future might look like.

“IT’S NO SECRET that Wrexham town centre has been shrinking over the last few years,” states Cllr Terry Evans.

But he claims the council has a plan and major investment is incoming for Wrexham’s high street and surrounding area, with hopes of making the town “thrive once again”.

Over recent years the town centre has seen many businesses close their doors and shut up shop for good due to many different factors, but can Wrexham town centre really prosper and thrive once again, or are more stores set to follow suit in years ahead?

Allan Jenkins, owner of the Smoke Shed, on Henblas Street, said business rates set by the Welsh Government are far too high, while also blaming Wrexham Council for the current state of the town centre, saying their inability to help local independent trades has driven them out of business.

The Leader:

“The council have gone big and tried to go for city status steps too early and put big developments on the outskirts of town which has drawn away from the town centre, which is the heart of Wrexham.

“Business rates are killing small independents off, for example, it will cost me here, a month’s earnings to do the business rates for the year, around £3,500 a year.

“The rates are just too high and there’s no help from the council, it’s a case of once you’re in then you’re in.

“There should be some sort of scheme, for example, the first year is free, then the second year it’s 50 per cent. That way, it’s giving businesses a chance to get back into the town centre and grow, bringing the town back to what it used to be.

“This used to be a market town, but it isn’t anymore, you look out there most days and it’s dead.

The Leader:

“To be fair to the council, they have lowered rates at places like the old BHS, and the new ones that are being built along the front to try and bring big business and big players back to the town centre but again, the small, local independents are missing out.”

However, this was not the sentiments of all business owners in the town centre.

Brian Watkins, owner of Mabon Models in the Butcher’s Market, blames the rise of online shopping for the downfall of Wrexham town centre, and says there was nothing that could be done to stop it.

“The internet is purely to blame for what’s happened to the town centre.

“You see a lot of businesses going out of business, and then reappearing on the internet.

The Leader:

“This isn’t a Wrexham issue, it’s a British issue in general, and there’s absolutely nothing that Wrexham Council, or anybody else for that matter, can do about it.

“Wrexham Council, through no fault of their own, unfortunately can’t turn it around. The internet has grown and grown, and people are choosing more and more to do their shopping and everything else online now, you can’t stop that.

“Seeing the amount of empty shops around the town does make me rather depressed but isn’t that the feeling of everybody right now?

“In my mind the only thing the council can do to try and help is to make parking free, even though I don’t think it’s particularly expensive now, but people don’t want to pay 50p or whatever it is.

“I don’t think they can cut business rates because that isn’t a decision that’s down to them. To be honest, I just can’t see what they can do.”

Steven Vale, owner of Caroline’s Viennese Patisserie in Central Arcade, offered a solution to Wrexham’s problem, while admitting that the issue of a dying town centre is one that faces many areas of Britain.

“What I would say is that it’s not a unique problem to Wrexham, but town centres have to reinvent themselves.

“Out-of-town shopping centres and the rise of online are of course going to have an affect on towns and the effect is that small business suffers.

The Leader:

“What we need to do is we need to get people living in the old shops, turn the old, closed down shops into flats, and get people back living in the town centre and build a little town centre community. That’s how towns used to be, and I believe that’s how they’ll end up again.

“The council do seem determined to make the town prosper again and credit to them for that.

“If you can get people living in the town centre again, why would they drive to Tesco when they can just walk around the corner to the local shop? That would be perfect for businesses in the town centre and I believe that is the way forward.”

So what do shoppers think of the situation?

Sheila Brown, from Wrexham, believes the lack of diverse shops has resulted in a deserted town centre, and says we should learn from other towns across the country.

“We’ve lived here for 48 years and the variety of shops has diminished massively compared to what it used to be.

The Leader:

“We visited Ellesmere recently and they’ve got a marvellous indoor market with a tremendous amount of variety of different products, and I just think that would be much more popular if we had that here as well.”

Robert Jones, from Wrexham, said: “It’s not in a great state at the moment and I don’t know why that is, maybe the business rates are too high, and people can’t afford them, but you look around and the places are boarded up, it doesn’t make the town centre seem very attractive.

“It makes me very sad really, Wrexham Council are wanting city status but the way the town looks right now, I don’t know what planet they’re living on.”

Jan Osbourne, from Wrexham, believes business rates are too high, while her husband Tony said: “The council need the business rates in order to pay for the services that they provide, so we have to be understanding of that, but I think the internet has destroyed the town centre.

“As well as that you’ve got out-of-town shopping centre’s where the big players go as it’s more convenient for people to go and park for free.”

The controversial Eagles Meadow was a big discussion point for some shoppers, including Beryl Parry, from Wrexham, who believes opening the shopping centre over a decade ago was the beginning of the downturn.

“In my opinion, if they hadn’t split the shopping areas into two with the opening of Eagles Meadow, then Wrexham would be in a much better position today.

“It’s a shame really, it’s a pity the way the town centre has turned out, it really is sad to walk through town now because it used to be so lovely and now it’s horrible.

“Unfortunately, I don’t think Wrexham can be saved, I think it’s gone. I would like to be wrong, I would love to see businesses back in the town centre once again, but I just don’t see it.”

But Cllr Evans, lead member for economic development and regeneration of Wrexham Council said: “It’s no secret that Wrexham has been shrinking over the last few years, it’s been stagnant, and there are many different factors as to why that is.

“However, as a council we know that we have a plan to rejuvenate the town centre, there are plans for major investment across many streets in Wrexham, and some major business players are pumping serious money into certain areas, such as the old BHS store and the old Barclays Bank.

“In addition to this, we have seen an influx of new businesses in the last 12 months, with many empty units being taken on or bought by various people.

“However, I think it’s also very important to make the town centre more residential once again.

“We know we can’t just have the town be entirely retail, we need more accommodation in the town centre, more places for people to live, so we can build that town community once again.

“In the next five years I would like to create a Wrexham town centre that has more shops and less empty units, bigger shops with a greater variety, and more residents living in the town.

“I’m not going to sit here and say it’s going to be easy because it isn’t, we know we’ve got a tough job on our hands, but we’ve been making positive steps moving in the right direction in the last year, and we know as a council we’ve got investment coming in.

“We’ve got a plan, and we’re confident that we can make the town thrive once again.”

What do you think? Can Wrexham town centre be saved? Email us at news@leaderlive.co.uk