“If people from Chester go abroad now and say ‘we’re from Chester’, they are asked ‘Is that near Wrexham?’ “

Wrexham Council’s Chief Executive Ian Bancroft has invited Syracuse to make ‘tangible connections’ with the city, as his keynote speech has been made public.

Mr Bancroft gave his speech in Syracuse in New York State at an ‘Economic Champions’ luncheon event.

In his speech Mr Bancroft introduced not just geographic and historic information on Wrexham, but detailed some tougher times we have encountered in recent years, including the BBC-branding of Wrexham as ‘spice town’,  and then the journey to where Wrexham is now a global brand.

The wide ranging speech referenced tourism figures since the Rob and Ryan takeover and anecdata including ‘some Americans now on their itinerary are going to Windsor Castle, the home of the King, Wrexham and the Racecourse Ground and then back home’ – along with some transatlantic winding up of Chester fans, adding that “…living next to Chester this is always one I love; that if people go abroad from Chester now and they say we’re from Chester, them they are asked ‘is that near Wrexham?’ which is just such an amazing reversal in a quick period of time”.

Mr Bancroft told the packed room, “Wrexham is now an international brand, which is quite phenomenal. It creates inward investment opportunities for our property businesses, projects, for our public services that are desperately running short of public money. Also we want to use it as a way of improving the lives of our children and young people.

“It also allows us to export, Wrexham Lager – go and drink it! It was on the Titanic when the Titanic went down. It is an amazing lager, the oldest in the UK.

Describing Wrexham and Syracuse as similar, and both on journeys, Mr Bancroft noted two days of roundtables that were aimed at ‘connecting people in Syracuse to Wrexham, to learn and to maximise the investment and opportunities by working together on a cultural and economic pathway’.

A possible outcome of the visit was expressed, “I hope Syracuse you’ve enjoyed your Welcome to Wrexham and you’re able to make tangible connections with us through understanding, learning, insight, future ideas, and shared investment opportunities”. Wrexham.com understands programmes are being created for a return visit by delegations in the new year.

As we previously reported Wrexham Council said there was no cost to the public purse in Wrexham, with it noted the Chief Executive was using ‘time off and not asking for any expenses to be paid by the authority’.

The key note speech has been made public and can be viewed below:

Organisers said, “CenterState CEO would like to extend its sincere thanks to Ian Bancroft of Wrexham, for delivering an impactful keynote address at its 2023 Economic Champions Luncheon. Ian highlighted how the Wrexham community is leveraging and embracing a period of growth and strategic investment, much like Syracuse, to drive continuous community progress. Thank you to presenting sponsors FustCharles and AmeriCU Credit Union, as well as speaker sponsor VIP Structures for your support.”

The trip did cause some upset with councillors, again exposing a strained senior relationships, unhappy that they had not been told, however at the time the council noted “Ian did speak with a range of council officials and partners about the visit and all expressed their view that it is worthwhile and a potential significant benefit to Wrexham”.