Category: Featured

This article is written as part of a series of posts about the #DrinkLessEnjoyMore campaign

Take a look at some of the people who are working tirelessly to make sure that your night in Wrexham is a safe one.

Street Pastors 

Providing a reassuring presence, street pastors listen to and talk with people, provide information on local agencies and aim to discourage anti-social behaviour.
Practical help provided by street pastors include handing out blankets, giving flip flops to clubbers unable to walk home in their high heeled footwear, giving out water, chocolate or sweets for energy and ensuring the safety of anyone feeling vulnerable. Street pastors remove bottles and other potential weapons from the streets, in order to discourage violence and vandalism.

Michelle McBurnie

Hafan Y Dref is Wrexham’s Welfare Centre and is staffed by British Red Cross volunteers. It offers a safe place for people feeling vulnerable or unwell on a night out in town.
Michelle McBurnie is one of the British Red Cross support officers who works at the centre. The centre offers a triage-service and immediate first aid if you’re injured or suffering from too much to drink.The volunteers also offer emotional and practical support if you’re feeling vulnerable. What’s more, they don’t pass judgement. If you need help, they just help you. You can find the Welfare Centre in part of the toilet block at the bottom of Town Hill – opposite the nightclub called South. So it is easy to find.

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Alex Jones owner of the Bank, Voodoo Moon and South

The Bank won the overall Best Bar Bone award. Best Bar None is a national scheme aimed at reducing alcohol related incidents and violence in the UK by raising the standards of licensed premises and building positive relationships with business regulators. Premises can achieve bronze, silver and gold awards.
The premises can display the Best Bar None award either outside or inside the premises which will then identify the licensees as responsible operators who value their customers and want to provide a safe night out.

Chris Harland and Stephanie Connelly at the Nags Head

The Nags Head won Best Pub in the Best Bar None Awards. In Wrexham 22 of the 28 licensed premises took part in the Best Bar None scheme.
Licensees and door supervisors have participated in training reminding them that it is illegal to serve to clearly drunk people and raising awareness of how vulnerable people can be, to becoming victims of theft or violence if they drink too much.

Police Officers

The Night Time Economy in Wrexham does not provide an environment which supports, encourages or allows drunken behaviour. North Wales Police are working hard to reduce alcohol related violence/sexual assaults and ensure everyone has a great, safe night out.

Door Staff

Door staff work with all the partners to ensure that Wrexham is a safe and enjoyable place to have a night out. The work closely with volunteers at the Welfare Centre and Street Pastors to help people who may have had too much to drink. They also help to enforce the law by not allowing people who are too drunk entry into licensed premises.

Wrexham Council has joined with North Wales Police, Public Health Wales, the Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board (BCUHB), the Area Planning Board, Glyndwr University and Coleg Cambria to deliver the #DrinkLessEnjoyMore campaign. If you would like to read more about the campaign and how all of the partners are working together click here.

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Members of the public have raised concerns over routes lost in the wake of the closure of D Jones & Son, which took place over the weekend.

Officers at Wrexham Council worked hard to secure temporary provision – and after further discussion with providers, we are pleased to announce that speedy progress has been made in securing replacement routes.

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The secured services, and their new providers, are:

• • 35 – Plas Goulbourne – Arriva
• • 41 – Wrexham Industrial Estare – Arriva
• • C56 – Chester (via Holt) – Stagecoach
• • 146 – Whitchurch – Pat’s Coaches

Although the new services will require the approval of the office of the Traffic Commissioner, Wrexham Council is confident these new services can be back on the road as soon as possible.

Cllr David A Bithell, Lead Member for Environment and Transport, said: “I’m pleased that officers have been able to secure these routes working with with operators as a lot of concern was raised when D Jones & Son ceased trading. These routes should now hopefully relaunch very soon.

“While approval of the office of the Traffic Commissioner is required, the commissioner has noted that the new secured services will be dealt with as a matter of urgency, which we are supporting.

“We know that there are other routes yet to be secured, but officers will continue to work hard to try and restore them as soon as possible.”

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Cllr David A Bithell, Lead Member for Environment and Transport, said: “Obviously we’re continuing to deal with the loss of D Jones & Son as best we can and officers have worked, and continue to work tirelessly in order to secure alternative provision for those services which have been lost.

“We would ask members of the public to keep an eye on our social media, and those of transport service providers, in order to check up on the status of replacement services. Updates will also be available on the council’s news blog.

“Attached is an information report, which has gone to all members and all community councils, in order to update everyone on the ongoing situation.”

This article is written as part of a series of posts about the #DrinkLessEnjoyMore campaign

Have you been on a night out in Wrexham and noticed people in blue uniforms handing out flip flops and sweets? These are Wrexham’s street pastors and they are volunteers who want to make our streets a safer place for a night out.

They are trained volunteers from local churches that care about the local community. All street pastors will have completed 12 training sessions spread over a year covering subjects including conflict management, counselling and basic first aid.

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Practical Help

Providing a reassuring presence, street pastors listen to and talk with people, provide information on local agencies and aim to discourage anti-social behaviour.

Practical help provided by street pastors include handing out blankets, giving flip flops to clubbers unable to walk home in their high heeled footwear, giving out water, chocolate or sweets for energy and ensuring the safety of anyone feeling vulnerable. Street pastors remove bottles and other potential weapons from the streets, in order to discourage violence and vandalism.

Working in Partnership

They are led by a local coordinator and have support from local churches and community groups in partnership with WCBC, NW Police, CCTV staff, Door staff/Security, Paramedics, Welfare Centre and Red Cross Volunteers.

There are a total of 36 street pastors in Wrexham and they operate every Saturday night from 10.30pm until around 3am as well as every 2nd and 4th Friday of the month.

Want to volunteer?

Currently over 300 towns and cities across the UK have a street pastors team. There are also a growing number of street pastor teams overseas.

If you are interested in finding out more about the Street Pastors work, or are interested in becoming a Street Pastor yourself, please contact them here.

For more information about the #DrinkLessEnjoyMore campaign click here

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As we head into the final shopping hurdle before Christmas, chances are you’ll be looking to do a lot of your shopping online.

Wrexham’s Trading Standards team is advising shoppers to keep any eye on some basic online safety checks when buying goods or presents online – and the vast majority of them take just a few seconds to carry out.

Research from National Trading Standards shows more than two thirds of shoppers leave out key safety checks when shopping online – leaving themselves at risk of fraud.

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And nobody wants to put themselves at risk of losing money just before Christmas.

Some basic checks to keep yourself safe

If buying products from an online seller, there are a few basic things you can do to keep yourself safe from fraud.

• Don’t be taken in by promotion or discount offers shared on social media – these can look inviting, but often link to “copycat” websites so fraudsters can steal your details.
• Look for reviews of the product or retailer/seller – and ask yourself whether or not they look genuine.
• Are there lots of spelling or grammar mistakes on the website? If so, that could be a hint that the business is not professionally run.
• Make sure the website has an encrypted address – this’ll show up if there’s a padlock symbol in the taskbar (where you type in the address), or if there’s an “s” at the end of the “http” part of the address. If so, this means that the website is using an encrypted system, which keeps your details secure.
• Does the company have a landline number you can call if you have any problems?
• Read the small print – notice if anything seems odd, repetitive or in incorrect English.
• Don’t be tricked by an impossible bargain – if something looks too good to be true, it probably is.
• Keep in mind that fraudsters exploit high demand – if shops run out of things like toys and games, crooks will step in and sell poor quality or imitation versions. Don’t panic buy – just make a few common-sense checks like those above and make sure you’re not handing your details over to a criminal.

If you believe that any online or face-to-face seller is selling potentially dangerous goods, or something you’ve bought has made you suspicious, report it to Citizens Advice Consumer Helpline on 03454 04 05 06.

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