THE loss of popular shops in recent years has seen Wrexham residents calling for ways to save the declining high street.

The initial move from the now city centre of Wrexham to Eagles Meadow for big brands is branded by many as the starting point of the decline, followed by the closure of shops in the shopping centre recently.

With Debenhams gone, and M&S moving to Plas Coch later this year, along with the sale of the Wetherspoons pub on High Street, calls are being made for a revamp of the centre of Wrexham.

Leader readers have previously been vocal about what they want to see, but locals who were out and about in the city have also spoken up about how the city centre can be revived.

Barbra Davies, 67, from Wrexham said: “You’ve got Plas Coch, Dunlem, here, Eagles Meadow. People aren’t going to walk from one side of the town to the other. The council shouldn’t have spread it out that much.”

“When it first opened (Eagles Meadow) they even put a free bus on but they’ve stopped that because old aged pensioners used to go to Marks and Spencers (which was along Hope Street) and now they’ve got it down there and they're shutting that. They’re not going to walk to Plas Coch are they.”

Geoffrey Foster, 65, who has lived in Wrexham for over 30 years said that filling the empty shops would “be a help” to Wrexham.

He explained: “Maybe cafes, artist areas, I don’t know to be honest. All the towns seem to be the same, they’re just run down and people are shopping online these days more, so you can argue that the town centres have had their day in many ways so they need to do something different with them don’t they, rather than shops. What that quite is, is beyond me but I’d thought leisure areas, cafes, artistic areas.”

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Jack Jurkojc, 20, said: “We need more shops they’re all shut. Better pubs as well. Better beer gardens, and that’s all I really care about, beer gardens and shops.”

He added: “You’ve got all the clubby stuff. On a day like this, you should have people in beer gardens but we’ve got nothing round here. Wasted really in the summer, you could have loads. All the nightclubs don’t open till it’s dark.”

Abby Jurojc, 18, said: “I want a Zara, I want a Zara here.

Jack said: “We have to go to Broughton or Chester all the time just to go shopping when you should be able to come here.”

Abby added: “It’s a good place for it too. (There are) opportunities here.”