Football doc creates 'busiest ever quarter' for city pub
Welcome to Wrexham followed Hollywood actors Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney as they became the new owners of Wrexham AFC with the hope of improving the club’s stature and bringing positive change to the local area.
Licensee of the Turf pub in Wrexham, Wayne Jones, featured in the sports documentary series and has since seen an “upsurge” of overseas visitors following the programme's launch last year.
Jones said: “Wrexham as an economy was going through a bit of a rough time. We're not the only town in Wales or the UK, or Europe even I would imagine, to be feeling the pinch; economically it’s been a struggle.
Busiest ever quarter
“But Rob (Mclhenny) and Ryan (Reynolds) coming in almost two years ago completely transformed the town; its thriving.”
While Jones, who has run the pub for the past 15 years alongside his wife, said it was “difficult to put into words” the “considerable” impact the documentary had made, he stated the pub’s day trade had “practically doubled”.
He added: “You can’t pay for the kind of publicity we’ve received through the documentary; it’s been seen by millions and millions of people around the world.
“We've just had our busiest ever quarter in 14 years. A lot of that is [because] we do have additional games, but Monday to Friday trade is a hell of a lot busier.”
Hand in hand
Jones added the famous duo had visited the pub on multiple occasions.
Staff at the Turf also “loved” getting involved with the documentary, according to the licensee, who has been able to take on an additional team member since the documentary aired to cope with the swell of trade at the pub.
Jones added: “We're only a town of about 50,000 people and every second Saturday, on average, we get 10,000 or 11,000 of them into the football stadium.
“It's truly the heartbeat of the economy, and if the football club does well, the economy will do well; they go hand in hand. In the 39 or 40 years I've lived here I've never known it to be as vibrant and exciting as it is at the moment.”
