.JPG) Theproposed building to house the combined museum with the galleries, from Regent Street. | |
 | |
| Established | 2026 (expected) |
|---|---|
| Location | Wrexham,Wrexham County Borough,Wales |
| Coordinates | 53°02′49″N2°59′54″W / 53.0470°N 2.9982°W /53.0470; -2.9982 |
| Type | Association footballmuseum collection |
| Curator | Nick Jones |
| Architect | Thomas Penson (pre-existing building) Purcell (re-development) |
| Owner | Wrexham County Borough Council andWelsh Government (project funding) |
| Public transit access |  Wrexham Central (230 m (750 ft); south)Wrexham General (500 m (1,600 ft); west)Wrexham bus station  (200 m (660 ft); north) |
| Nearest car park | Threeaccessible parking spaces and amultistorey car park (pay and display) at rear |
| Website | www |
Wrexham Museum is currently undergoing redevelopment for the addition of collections dedicated toWelsh association football. Proposals for anational footballmuseum had been proposed by various politicians in both theWelsh Government andlocal councils.Wrexham County Borough Council emerged as the leading contender for the location of a museum due to Wrexham'sfootball heritage. By 2026, the new museum dedicated to both Wrexham and Welsh football is set to open within the pre-existingCounty Buildings on Regent Street, in Wrexham'scity centre, merging together withWrexham County Borough Museum andArchives.
In 2016, negotiations were underway betweenPlaid Cymru and theWelsh Labour government over a draft 2017–2018 Welsh Government budget, in which the two parties formed a majority ofmembers in theWelsh Assembly. The draft budget included an additional £3 million in culture funding, which was awarded to theArts Council of Wales,National Museum Wales,National Library of Wales and theWelsh Books Council, but also towards "feasibility studies for a national art gallery and a football museum in North Wales". By October 2017, for the 2018–2019 draft budget, £5 million was allocated towards the two feasibility studies.[1]
In 2017, it was proposed that a National Football Museum be set up, with Wrexham claimed as the "spiritual home" of Welsh Football, and the leading contender for the museum.[2][3][4]
Apart from the bid from Wrexham, the only other bid for the museum came fromPowys County Council, which agreed to move forward with its bid in October 2017 to set up the museum inNewtown, Powys. The council stated they had a strong claim to the proposed museum, as they have available land for the project andNewtown A.F.C. was a founding member of theFAW, as well as the town being in thecentre of Wales.[5][6]
In November 2018, a Welsh Government feasibility study recommended a national football museum for Wales be set up in Wrexham, alongside other Welsh proposals of anational gallery of contemporary art. The estimated cost for the football museum was £4.4 million, which also involves redeveloping Wrexham Museum, with an annual running cost of £144,500 paid by the Welsh Government.[7][8] Welsh footballer,Neville Southall, supported Wrexham as the museum's location.[7][8]
Wrexham was chosen as the main contender for the football museum due to Wrexham's football heritage as the site of the founding of theFootball Association of Wales in theWynnstay Arms Hotel, Wales'oldest football clubWrexham A.F.C. founded in 1864 and its home in the oldest international stadium still in use, theRacecourse Ground. Wrexham Museum is already the custodian for the official Welsh Football Collection since 2000,[9] the largest collection of Welsh footballmemorabilia with 2,000 items.[10] To compare, there are 1,400 artefacts in theWelsh Sports Hall of Fame inCardiff.[7][8] Another reason stated by supporters of the proposal for Wrexham to host the museum was that thenorth-east of Wales does not host any "national museum" of Wales, with the others based innorth-west,south-west andsouth-east Wales, specifically inCardiff,Swansea,Torfaen,Gwynedd,Newport andCarmarthenshire.[11] With Mid Wales having the national library based inAberystwyth. The National Football Development Centre atColliers Park, inGresford near Wrexham was opened in 2019.[12]
By May 2019,Dafydd Elis-Thomas, deputy Minister for Culture, Sport and Tourism in the Welsh Government announced Wrexham was the preferred option.[13][14]
In July 2019, there were discussions over where the museum should be located in Wrexham. Wrexham council'sIndependent–Conservative executive board approved plans for the museum to be located within the same building as the existing County Borough Museum. Opposition councillors fromPlaid Cymru andLabour proposed the museum should be housed in a re-developedKop End stand of Wrexham A.F.C's Racecourse Ground. The council responded stating that an independent report by a consultancy firm recommended the museum be housed in the Wrexham Museum building, a recommendation backed by the government. Wrexham A.F.C. also said that they would prefer the museum not be housed in Kop End, so more parts of the redevelopment can go towards money raising facilities.[15]
In December 2020, the plans were clarified to be "advancing" following initial stalling of the project, related to theCOVID-19 pandemic in Wales.[16] The council launched a formal tender process in the same month to select a designer of the project.[17]
On 3 June 2021, Nick Jones was appointed as Football Museum officer, who previously worked atEngland'sNational Football Museum.[18]
On 28 June 2021, a design team for the project was appointed with Haley Sharp Design, which includesPurcell as the architects and MDA Consulting as quantity surveyors. The team would collaborate with the Welsh Government and Wrexham Council to develop designs for the museum.[19][20][21]
In July 2021, a football cap dating to 1899 was donated to the to be set up museum.[22]
In November 2021, a public survey was opened for a limited time to local residents to receive local views on the proposals.[23]
In June 2022, the project was awarded £45,000 by theNational Lottery Heritage Fund.[24][25][26]
In February 2024, the project received £5.4 million from the Welsh Government, towards the "Museum of Two Halves" project where the football galleries and history galleries would be based side-by-side. The funding was provided following the2021 Welsh Labour–Plaid Cymru agreement.[27]
The project is funded byWrexham County Borough Council and theWelsh Government and is currently underway to design and eventually open a national football museum in Wrexham.[10] The project has been allocated £5 million in development funding by the government.[28]
The museum is set to be based withinthe same building as Wrexham Museum, onWrexham city centre's Regent Street. To accommodate the football museum, the building is set to undergo some "major refurbishment work", which would make use of the building's entire upper floor which is currently partly vacant.[10][28][29]
The project is collaborating with staff from England's National Football Museum and theScottish Football Museum.[10] Wales, unlikeScotland and England, has not yet had a national football museum. The project forecasts there would be an increase of 80,000 in Wrexham city centre's annual footfall following the completion of the football museum.[30] It was projected to open in 2024, with construction starting in 2022.[20][29] However, the opening date was pushed back to 2026, at the end of thecurrent Senedd term.[27]
By 2026, the galleries dedicated to Welsh football would be part of a combined museum, alongside galleries dedicated to Wrexham.[31][32]
