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Morning all,
I'm currently based in Kent however find myself with a potential job opportunity in Wrexham. The advantages are it's a higher band than my current role, offers better hours, I can rent a larger house for less money than I pay down here, and I have North Wales for adventures on my doorstep rather then clipping up every couple of months for a few days. My son is also at university in Staffordshire so this would mean we get more regular contact. I'm single, live in a rented house, and my only significant tie here is my mum. I'm quite open to an adventure and seeing where things go but no nothing at all about the area. Anyone care to clue me in?
Fairly unremarkable regional town (recently given city status).
Town itself is a bit of a mess with no real centre.
Football club is a big thing at the moment because of Hollywood owners.
Lots of great places within easy reach for mountain bike - Llangollen, Llandegla etc.
Some tensions around identity because it's a border town - lots of people now use Welsh spelling 'Wrecsam'.
Has a good annual FOCUS Wales music event in August.
Honestly can't see any drawbacks in that move. There is an active mtb scene in Wrexham and it's less than 30 minutes drive from degla. An hour and a half to Coed Y Brenin plus tons of natural inbetween. Peak district over this way if you like too. Do it and enjoy!
I was up there for a week working and really liked it. It's a bit jumbled as old towns are but it has a good market and some great food places. A modern centre (that was a bit crappy if I'm honest) and older side streets (that were quite nice). Possibly the best curry I've ever had and I've had a few. It felt like a town on the up to me with some interesting and quirky things going on. Good location too with access to North Wales and llandegla nearby, without being miles from everything else. Coming from Kent it sounds like a great move, combine that with more money, cheaper accomodation and a better work-life balance it sounds like a no-brainer
I grew up in the area in a few of the outlying villages, 40-20 years ago and my mum still lives there and some friends moved back to the area after Uni etc.
Wrexham has been growing in size, with the industrial estate and commuters towards Chester and further afield, and accepting the largest prison in the UK. But the centre has deteriorated over time and suffered from poor planning decisions so the centre hasn't got a great vibe and the shopping centres can be a pain to get to, basically traffic can be pretty bad. Certainly not unique for a place of its size but the lack of alternatives means it really depends where you are living and working and what time of day you'll travel as to how big a factor all of that is.
Many years ago when I first started going out drinking it had quite a small town mentality. Nights out could be rough, but equally Chester was the same, I think some of that is better now. But like much of the UK, there is a lot of poverty, working people who are only just scraping by, and it can feel like there is a lot of petty crime. There was a period of a lot of homeless people using spice on the streets. I don't know if that has improved in the last year or not. There is targeted burglary in the surrounding villages, where professional burglars know larger houses / garages tend to have high value things in them. Again this isn't unique to Wrexham, but there is quite a disparity of wealth between different suburbs/villages and within villages.
It has amazing access to the outdoors, River Dee, hiking, mountain biking (Llandegla or natural riding in Llangollen / Corwen / Berwyns area or Clwydian hills and then further into Snowdonia or Peak District within an hour).
If you have questions about specific areas please ask.
I would happily move back to the area because I think all of those downsides ^ occur all over the UK.
You don't have to live in Wrexham, loads of options in the surrounding areas. I grew up there in the 70s / 80s so have had a different experience. Family still there, friends mostly moved away, but still keep in touch, as said previously it has some beautiful countryside> aound and a short trip to great mountain biking.
I miss Chester 😁
I grew up in Chester, my Mum was from Wrexham, I still have a lot of extended family in Wrexham and surrounds. I moved away at at 16 in the early 80s and have been an infrequent visitor since, so others on the thread are far more up to date than me. There was a big rivalry between Chester and Wrexham when I was a kid, dunno if that's still a thing. Copa's summary sounds fairly accurate to me. I'm biased, but you would be close to Chester, which is (IMO) a bit nicer for shops, pubs, restaurants etc. Wrexham would be a great base for a mountain biker or anyone into the outdoors, with the best of North Wales a short hop away. I've lived in Kent* too, I would choose Chester/Wrexham above it.
*(albeit Ashford, which may have coloured my judgement).
As others have said, you don't have to live in Wrexham, and there are plenty of nice villages both in Wales and England which are easily commutable, access to snowdonia, the peaks and even the lakes is great from there and getting into places like liverpool & Manchester by train is not especially difficult if you pick the right place. Villages in Cheshire are quite expensive but no where near as pricey as Kent would imagine. I say this with the biased view that I live in this area and love it!
Honestly can’t see any drawbacks in that move
ITs pretty close to Cheshire which is a hell hole of rangerover toting bellends as far i can work out.
However if you fancy it... I know a house for sale in Farndon.... 3 bedrooms big garden two garages. renovation required.
As above, go for it but don't buy a house in Wrexham itself.
That's a win all round!
Nice area - Wrexham itself is a bit like any middle of the road, slightly down at heel regional town but it's easy access to all of North/Mid Wales as well as over to Peak District.
Visited a few times, a housemate of mine from uni lives there (he grew up there, he loves it).
I've lived in Chester for 28 years and consider Wrexham to be a sh!thole but, like previous posters observed, there are nice villages around it in Flintshire, Denbighshire and Cheshire and of course there's Chester itself which I can highly recommend. N Wales is your lobster with MTB trails within easy reach for rides in the evenings after work and if you want a big city Liverpool is a short, cheap trainride on Merseyrail.
Just live in Shropshire, it’s an amazing place to live and the commute really isn’t far… otherwise, there are lots of other options not far from Wrexham with lots of great biking 🙂
Wrexham itself ie the town is a bit naff but lovely places around it, and housing relatively cheap. Chester is not far up the road for decent shops etc, but almost a world apart.
Agree with the comments re Cheshire it’s just all a bit plastic faces/designer tracksuits/big labels
Traffic isn’t too bad at all compared to other parts of the country. I know plenty who live Oswestry way and work at Wrexham Hospital.
The Welsh health system is not as good as the English if you need care, but English NHS isn’t great in the area either
I wouldn’t say that the Peak District is close, at least 2hrs, and the lakes 3hrs but the Welsh Boarders are stunning and empty, Snowdonia is handy too.
Plus as just to the east of some big hills it’s not too rainy either
My favourite news story of the last 10 years involves Wrexham...
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/amp/entry/pound-shop-riot_n_4642950/
As above wouldn't live there, grew up nearby. Would live there either:)
I ran a bar there many years ago. Had a great time but when the company asked if I fancied moving to Llandudno I was out of there like a shot.
Eagles meadow was about to open and that completely killed the town centre. Remember going to some horrendous pubs - walked into one and a lass was properly punching a guy in the face over a game of pool.
Was a great base for riding though so take the job and live somewhere that isn't Wrexham.
Moved from the midlands about 8 years to Wrexham and as others have said, the town centre is not great, but overall, I quite like it up here. Good riding, great travel connections to Chester/Liverpool/Manchester if you want and easy access to snowdonia and shropshire. Peaks is relatively easy to access still, done it a few times. Housing is not bad price wise in decent-ish areas on the periphery. I'd do it again 🙂
Agree with the comments re Cheshire it’s just all a bit plastic faces/designer tracksuits/big labels
**Sweeping generalisation klaxon**
Some bits, sure, many bits not.
which is a hell hole of rangerover toting bellends as far i can work out.
Stay classy.
There was a big rivalry between Chester and Wrexham when I was a kid
Is that one of those great rivalries where it's actually completely one sided and actually one party is completely unaware of it? Like the supposed England-Germany football rivalry.
Jealousy, rather than rivalry...
Wrexham - lovely area, not the nicest town.
I grew up in Oswestry, about a 20min drive away. That was a poor market town but recently undergone a bit of a revival - independent coffee shops/nice food and a bit more Buzz, mostly through Chester and Shrewsbury overspill. Great MTB around there with natural trails at Llanymnech and Nescliffe is rideable in an XC loop without having to drive. Still the same distance to 'Degla etc and the Long Mynd is only 45min away.
When I left, I vowed never to go back, but visiting the folks over the past few years while living in London/NE Scotland, recently there's been an 'actually....it's not half bad'. It'll rain more than Kent, so pack some mud tyres!
Stay classy.
Och come on it it was only lols. there are a lot of range rovers though...
Lived in Gresford for a year in the late 90s, which is just outside Wrexham on the Chester side, before that lived in the Trevor Arms Inn down the road in Marford for a few months on expenses, was more into waterskiing than riding back then so headed to the coast most of the time.
Met my wife at work on the Industrial Estate and we bought a house in Shrewsbury, it's not a bad commute to Wrexham, in fact the A528 is quite nice to drive, at least compared the other option (A5), but I'm glad I don't have to do it anymore, now live in a North Shropshire, have been back to Wrexham about 3 times in 20 years.
Oswestry isn't a bad shout if you want a bit more going on than a village, don't fancy Wrexham and want to get the best of the North Wales and Shropshire riding.
Mold is nicer (I lived there for many years) Wrexham is about a 30 minute drive.
Pros - Alf Jones Bikes (great bike shop), Close to Llandegla, Clydian Hills (lots of off road)
Chester is close by. Not too pricy for houses.
Cons- I always found the weather was worse in Mold/Wrexham than lower down in Deeside/Chester.
Wrexham has its rough areas.