City in Wales
Wrexham
A Welsh town with a Hollywood-owned football club, Britain's first lager and a church tower that inspired a Yale landmark. In 2022 it finally became a city.
Key information
- Nation
- Wales
- Known for
- Wrexham AFC, the Racecourse Ground, Wrexham Lager, St Giles' Church, the Gresford mining disaster
- What locals are called
- Wrexhamites
- Famous people
- Robbie Savage; Elihu Yale (buried here); Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney (club owners)
- Football clubs
- Wrexham AFC (founded 1864), nicknamed the Red Dragons
About Wrexham
The city that Hollywood adopted
In 2021 Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney bought Wrexham AFC, a club then playing outside the English Football League. Their documentary series, Welcome to Wrexham, turned a north Wales town into a global talking point. Fans in America and beyond now know about the Racecourse Ground, the club's chants and the pubs around it. The story had a sporting ending to match the script. Wrexham climbed through three successive promotions, in 2023, 2024 and 2025, and the town gained a fresh swagger. The cameras were already rolling in 2021. In May 2022 Wrexham was announced as one of the UK's new cities, and the series premiered that August, so the town's new status and its TV fame arrived almost together.
Football's oldest stage in Wales
Wrexham AFC dates from 1864, which makes it the oldest club in Wales and one of the oldest professional clubs anywhere. Its home, the Racecourse Ground, began as a cricket and racing venue. It is often called the oldest international football stadium still in use. Wales played Scotland there in 1877, the first international match staged in Wales. The Football Association of Wales was founded in Wrexham in 1876, at a meeting in the Wynnstay Arms Hotel. The club has also provided one of the FA Cup's great giant-killings. In January 1992, a Wrexham side near the foot of the Football League beat Arsenal, the reigning league champions, 2-1 at the Racecourse. Mickey Thomas's free kick is still replayed in the town. The club has also won the Welsh Cup more than 20 times, a record.
The lager that came from Germany
Wrexham Lager is a rare thing in Britain, a beer with a German accent. It was brewed from 1882 by German immigrants who set up in the town, and it claims to be Britain's first lager. The brewery grew into a local landmark, and the beer was exported widely. The original brewery closed in 2000, which stung locals. The name has since been revived, and Wrexham Lager has returned to pubs and, naturally, to the football crowds. Beer fits the town's character. Wrexham grew on hard work: coal, iron, clay, leather and brewing all shaped the place.
A steeple, a yew and a set of bells
The 16th-century tower of St Giles' Church is the town's great landmark, and its steeple is one of the traditional Seven Wonders of Wales. An old rhyme lists them: Pistyll waterfall, Wrexham steeple, Snowdon's mountain, Overton yew trees, St Winefride's well, Llangollen bridge and Gresford bells. Elihu Yale, the merchant after whom Yale College was named, is buried in the churchyard. His major gift to the Collegiate School, founded in 1701, came in 1718. The tower is said to have inspired the Harkness Tower at Yale, a link that brings American visitors to the church. The Gresford bells in that rhyme belong to a village just outside town. The same name is remembered for a much sadder event, the Gresford colliery disaster of 1934, when 266 men died. It remains one of Britain's worst mining tragedies and shaped a whole community. The hymn tune and brass band piece named after it are still played.
Iron-mad and industrious
Before football made Wrexham famous, iron did. At Bersham, just outside town, John Wilkinson, nicknamed Iron-Mad Wilkinson, developed accurate methods for boring cannon. The same method let him make cylinders for James Watt's steam engines, so the Industrial Revolution ran in part on Wrexham-area engineering. Wrexham already had medieval markets, and coal was being mined in the district before Wilkinson's day. Ironworking, coal mining, brickmaking, leatherworking and brewing all fed the town's later industrial growth. Today, Erddig, the National Trust house nearby, shows how a grand estate and its servants lived. The Pontcysyllte Aqueduct, a World Heritage Site, is a short drive away. The border with England is close, and Chester is only a short trip away.