Aparthotel plans approved for city centre

Liam Randall Local Democracy Reporter

A Liverpool-based company’s plans to turn a former city centre registry office into an aparthotel have been approved in a bid to address a lack of tourist accommodation.

An application was submitted by the Happy Days Group earlier this year to convert the building on Chester Street, Wrexham into 13 serviced apartments.

It follows a sharp rise in the number of visitors to the area in recent years sparked by Wrexham AFC’s Hollywood takeover and the popularity of the Welcome to Wrexham documentary.

Green light

Proposals were previously backed in 2018 to transform the Grade II-listed property, which is believed to date back to 1727, into residential apartments.

However, permission for the scheme has since lapsed, with the new aparthotel plans put forward in February.

A decision notice published on the Wrexham Council website shows the development has now been given the green light.

In a design and access statement, agents acting on behalf of the applicants said: “This document has been produced on behalf of our client, the Happy Days Group, alongside the submission for the conversion an existing building into an aparthotel, including 13 units.

“The request was made to solve several issues in the existing area, including a lack of hotels and apartments in the town centre.

“The site is well connected to public transport as Wrexham Central Station is located within a ten-minute walk and the closest bus stop is within a five-minute walk.

“As the site is located close to Wrexham town centre, it is ideal for tourism accommodation with multiple social amenities including bars, restaurants and shops.

“The proposal will bring a listed building back into use, providing high quality tourism accommodation and a sense of place close to Wrexham town centre.”

The plans show a mixture of one and two-bedroom apartments will be created across the three floors of the building.

Job creation

The company said the scheme will provide a total of six jobs, with two full-time and four part-time roles.

It comes as recently published tourism data for 2023 shows the county borough of Wrexham experienced it’s strongest annual performance since records began.

The “STEAM” figures used by Welsh local authorities to measure tourism performance show total visitor numbers grew by 6.6 per cent, with just over two million people visiting the area last year.

However, while there was an 8.1 per cent increase in day visitors, overnight stays went up by just 1.3 per cent.

Commenting on the figures, Nigel Williams, Wrexham Council’s lead member for the economy, said this was partly down to a lack of accommodation.

He said: “Naturally, Wrexham has benefited more from overseas visitors in the last year thanks to the exposure afforded by the documentary.

“I am pleased to see the development of Wrexham as a visitor destination with new investment in our city centre.

“Some of this is addressing our shortage of overnight accommodation with exciting plans for the refurbishment of existing hotels and new city centre hotels in the pipeline, which will keep more of the tourism spend in Wrexham.”