As Welsh Government eases restrictions and makes announcements to re-open Welsh Tourism, businesses across North Wales prepare for a safe return to Business. Wrexham, often seen as the capital of North Wales and a gateway for Cheshire and the North West of England, has evolved to meet the challenges set by Covid restrictions.
Wrexham certainly hasn’t stood still since the lockdown started in March.
I live in the town and I believe restrictions have generally been well adhered to and despite those restrictions the town will reopen with better facilities, as many businesses have seized the opportunity to enhance and adapt their businesses in and around the town.
Wrexham County Borough Council and the This Is Wrexham Tourism Partnership, after weeks of speculation and uncertainty about the future of the tourism sector in Wales, where bolstered by the news that the tourism sector can prepare for reopening on 3rd August, with many self-catering and outdoor attractions reopening from this week.
Writing on thisisWrexham.co.uk, Joe Bickerton Destination Manager – Wrexham County Borough Council, wrote “Despite the news, it has been an anxious time for many tourism businesses across Wales, with the sector still potentially facing the equivalent of a “three winter” year if consumer confidence doesn’t return later this summer, with a lack of revenue to sustain jobs over the winter period. To help with this, many tourism businesses across Wrexham County Borough have signed up to the national “good to go” COVID-safe scheme, recognising the first-class safety measures that have been put in place behind the scenes to reassure visitors whilst still providing a great experience.”
A quick look around the town shows just how much work and how many fine businesses we have in the area.
Many Bars and restaurants have reworked their sitting arrangements and overhauled outdoor spaces to meet Welsh Government rulings or correct social distancing and table service requirements.
Well known Wrexham bar and restaurant, The Fat Boar have redeveloped their popular outdoor space with a fantastic, fresh looking make over and have announced that they will be signing up to the government “Eat out to Help out” scheme once they know more details. They set up a delivery service throughout lockdown which is still in operation and they are open for business from NOW! Keep up to date with their developments via their facebook page.
Other businesses in the town centre will reopen with upgrades to their offerings, such as the Lemon Tree. They have built 8 new bedrooms and the building looks fantastic following the development.
The Pant yr Ochain announced this week they’ll re-open on August 3rd. This annoncement came out yesterday:
We are thrilled to say that we will be back to welcome you all from 12 noon on Monday 3rd August, when we’re able to open both our inside and outside areas.
We are still the good old Pant that you know and love, but for obvious reasons you may find us a little different when we open the doors. We are doing everything we can to make sure that returning to the pub is welcoming and friendly, whilst also putting your safety and that of our crew, at the heart of things. You can find out more about these changes by clicking here.
Whilst we find our feet we will be encouraging bookings only inside the pub. Our outside tables are not available to book, however a controlled queuing system will be in place at busy times. Once we’re back in the pub in the next week or so, we’ll be able to start taking bookings again, so we’ll let you know when that’s all up and running again.
The challenge for many places is having no outdoor space, or not enough outdoor space to make opening viable for many businesses.
It’s absolutely vital that once we have a return to something near normality we go out and spend in LOCAL BUSINESSES and help them, not just recover but go on to thrive. The pressures put on these small businesses in Wales have been enormous and seeing the big industry such as Airbus, JCB, Magellan and many others announce redundancies in high numbers over the past few weeks makes us appreciate those smaller, hard working businesses in the region.