City of Culture: Wrexham 'so proud' to step closer to title

Wrexham is one step closer to being named UK City of Culture after making the final shortlist of four.

The town faces competition from County Durham, Bradford and Southampton for the title, which is awarded every four years.

The prize, which has opened up in recent years to towns and wider areas, attracted a record 20 bids.

"There's huge excitement here locally in the community," said Joanna Swash, who chairs the Wrexham bid.

"When we take that step back and think what have we managed to achieve in a very, very short space of time, then, yeah, we're super proud of everything we've pulled together," she added.

The Wrexham bid team has yet to have feedback from the judges but Ms Swash said they will carefully consider it before they move on to the next stage.

Ms Swash said no particular area of Wrexham will be getting more attention than anywhere else.

"This is about the borough council as a whole and we've got lots of heritage areas," she added.

It's understood judges will visit the final four contenders in May, but there are no details about when a winner will be announced.

Llinos Ann Cleary, board member of the near 100-year-old Stiwt Theatre in nearby Rhosllannerchrugog, described the news as "very special".

"I'm so proud. We've had some difficult years - and maybe a bit of a bad reputation in the past - but this shows what Wrexham has to offer," she said.

"We have the football of course, but there's much more to Wrexham than that - the history, arts, the language.

"The hope is also that tourism brings in some money to spend on Wrexham's high street. We need to bring that back to life."

She added that she hopes the shortlisting "puts the Welsh language on the map" and shows that it's a "living language".

Giving his reaction to the finalists, Arts minister Lord Parkinson said: "The great thing about the City of Culture competition is that it shows the great benefit that culture brings, not just in terms of peoples wellbeing... but the economic benefits it brings.

"Coventry is the current City of Culture, and their time with the title has seen them get more than £170m worth of investment, and half a billion pounds worth of regenerations across the city."