Wrexham live music venue closes for second time in months

A town centre's live music venue is closing for the second time in five months due to financial pressures.

Central Station in Wrexham shut in September after 20 years and re-opened in December as the Live Rooms.

The rebranded club has now announced "with a heavy heart" it will close on Saturday for the last time.

Wrexham council's chief executive Ian Bancroft said it was really sad to see the venue close, but he said the local arts scene was evolving.

A statement on the company's Facebook page said: "Unfortunately it's with a heavy heart that we have to announce that as of February 9 the venue will be closing its doors for the very last time.

"Like many other venues up and down Wales in recent years, the crippling financial pressures involved in running a grassroots new music venue without external support has made it extremely challenging and unfortunately it has become unsustainable for us to carry on.

"If you want to come and say goodbye to the venue, this weekend will be the last chance.

"It's been an absolute pleasure putting on the shows, and a lot of fun - hopefully you've enjoyed them too."

Despite the closure, Mr Bancroft told the Local Democracy Reporting Service he thought the local arts scene in Wrexham was still strong, having chaired a debate on the issue last week.

"Central Station has done a tremendous job over the years and it's really sad to see it go, but in no way does it indicate that we have issues with the development of our music and our arts scene," he said.

"I think it's evolving, and it's hard for those sorts of places to sustain themselves now.

"However, we have a wealth of individuals who have a different platform, whether it's YouTube or other places, to promote themselves on."