Hollywood glamour meets Wrexham: A city flourishes

In a cozy corner of The Turf pub in North Wales, Colombian Nestor Aguedelo cheerfully flips through the photos on his phone while holding a Guinness in his hand. Beside him, his wife and sister-in-law laugh. They came from Bogotá to Wrexham, drawn by the popular TV documentary that has made the once little-noticed town famous worldwide. Wrexham's revival began with the astute business move by Hollywood stars Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney, who acquired the local football club in 2021 for 2.5 million dollars. The TV series "Welcome to Wrexham" quickly followed, putting both the football players and the town's residents in the spotlight and making Wrexham's face known on screens around the globe. This Hollywood boost has made Wrexham, with its 45,000 residents, an attractive destination for tourists worldwide. The numbers also reflect this tourist boom: tourism revenues in Wrexham rose by 20% to 180 million pounds in 2023, according to Ian Bancroft, CEO of the Wrexham County Borough Council. The "Rob and Ryan effect" has thus benefited the local economy and motivated businesses to invest. Recently, American food giant Kellogg's announced plans to build Europe's largest cereal factory in Wrexham's industrial area, creating 130 new jobs with an investment of 100 million dollars. There is also movement in the real estate sector: boutique hotels are springing up, and more and more Americans are buying apartments in the area to rent to football fans. Even the beer brand Wrexham Lager, proud to have been served on the Titanic, is expanding into international markets like Australia, Canada, and the USA, thanks to the series' popularity. Reynolds and McElhenney celebrated these developments with local honors, being awarded the Freedom of Wrexham in 2022. Only made a city in 2022, Wrexham is now on the path to becoming the UK City of Culture 2029. Without doubt, the new football chapter has ignited a newfound confidence in the Welsh town, making the gray past of bygone days fade away. The heart of the city's renewal remains the world's oldest still-playing football ground, the Racecourse Ground. For fans and tourists alike, the adjacent The Turf has become a sort of pilgrimage site, occasionally graced by the presence of prominent personalities.