BUILDING work has now commenced on the iconic, 167 year old, Grade II listed County Buildings in Wrexham city centre – the home of Wrexham Museum since 1996.

When the building reopens to the public in 2026 it will be home to an enhanced and expanded Wrexham Museum, alongside Wales’ first ever football museum.

With new, state of the art galleries and a fully refurbished and extended building, the museum is set to be a world-class new national attraction for Wrexham, drawing thousands of visitors from all over Wales – and beyond!

Initial work included the demolition of the modern alterations to the building as part of creating the new atrium and the new gallery spaces on the ground and first floors.

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The biggest changes to the building are the removal of the roof over the old main gallery to re-create the original inner courtyard space, while at the front of the building the glazed extension has been carefully dismantled to allow work to proceed on the front façade of the building.

The big crane on St Mark’s Road has assisted with these tasks, though its work is only just beginning. As well as developing a fantastic new museum, this is also very mush a conservation project that will see one of Wrexham’s most famous buildings restored to its former glory.

The Museum is being developed by Wrexham Council’s museum team in association with museum designers, Haley Sharpe Design and architects, Purcell.

Funding support for the new museum is being delivered by Wrexham Council, Welsh Government, National Lottery Heritage Fund and the Wolfson Foundation. The Museum of Two Halves project has also received £1.3 million from the UK Government through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF).

The project has also secured a £2.7m grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund. 

The grant will fund fitting out the museum with the displays that the visitors experience, as well as providing the means to deliver a series of activities, events and other museum programmes over the next four years across Wrexham County Borough and elsewhere in Wales.

In the meantime, the museum's cafe 'Courtyard Cafe' has made a temporary home in the food court at Wrexham's multi-award winning markets, arts and community hub Ty Pawb.

Councillor Paul Roberts, Wrexham Council’s Lead Member for Partnerships, said: “There is a real buzz starting to build around this project now that construction work has begun and the scale of the ambitious plan for the new museum is becoming visible.

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“The football museum’s stall at the recent National Eisteddfod in Pontypridd was massive hit, with thousands of people from all over the country visiting to find out more about the plans – an indication of the huge appetite there is for Wales to have its own football museum.

“The expanded Wrexham Museum will benefit from state-of-the-art galleries to tell the story of our city and the county borough at a time when global interest in Wrexham is skyrocketing.”

“The new museum is set to open in 2026. In the meantime I would encourage everyone visiting the city centre to go and take a look at the new pop-up museum on Queen’s Square where they can view some beautifully illustrated plans for the new museum and find out more about this exciting new development for Wrexham.”