Is the New Football Museum of Wales Worth a Visit?

If you remember the old Wrexham Museum on Regent Street, forget everything you knew about it. The building reopened on 25 September as the Football Museum of Wales and Wrexham Museum, and it's bigger, sharper and free to get into. With half term just around the corner, here's what you'll find inside and how to bag a ticket.

Why the Football Museum of Wales Is in Wrexham

Some people will assume this is another spin-off from the Hollywood years. It isn't. Plans for a football museum here started in 2020, before Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney had bought the club.

The real reason goes back much further. The Football Association of Wales was founded in Wrexham in 1876, so this year is its 150th birthday. Wrexham AFC dates from 1864, making it the third-oldest professional club in the world, and the Racecourse is the oldest international stadium still in use.

Other places across Wales wanted the national football museum. Wrexham got it, and on that record, rightly so.

The building has its own story. The old County Buildings went up in 1857 as barracks for the Denbighshire Militia and became the town's museum in 1996. It's Grade II listed, so the outside looks much as you remember. Inside is another matter.

Inside the Football Museum of Wales

Start with the paperwork. Behind glass is the original team sheet from Wales v Scotland in 1876, the first international Wales ever played. If you care about Welsh football at all, that one piece of paper is worth the trip on its own.

The Timeline is a single case packed with objects from 1876 to the present day, telling the story of the national teams. Look out for the cap and shirt of Wyn Davies, who won 34 caps for Wales and died last year.

Then it gets hands-on. Great Wales Goals lets you watch the best goals in the country's history and vote for your favourite, so expect a family argument or two. There are films running throughout, and a table football game sits in the atrium under the FAW crest. That's where you'll lose the kids.

It isn't all national team nostalgia either. The collections were built with the FAW and communities across Wales, covering grassroots clubs, women's football, the Welsh language, and the experiences of LGBTQ+ and Black, Asian and minority ethnic players and fans.

Don't Skip the Wrexham Museum Half

Plenty of visitors will head straight for the football and walk past the other half. Don't. The Wrexham galleries tell the story of this place from its mining past to the city it is now, with the same interactive approach as the football side.

When the galleries were first planned, Brymbo Man and his tomb were put right at the start of the story. He's around 4,000 years old and was the star of the old museum for years. The plans also promised the museum's first permanent space for the Gresford Colliery Disaster, the 1934 explosion that killed 266 men, alongside the story of Wrexham's munitionettes, the women who kept the war effort going on the home front.

Brewing was due a display of its own as well, which feels right for the home of Wrexham Lager.

How to Book and When to Go This Half Term

Entry is free, but you can't just turn up. You need a timed ticket from wrexhammuseum.wales, and slots are limited, so don't leave it until the morning you fancy going.

Wrexham schools are off from 26 to 30 October, and that week will be busy. Book early, or grab a weekday slot before then if you can.

The museum is in the County Buildings on Regent Street, a few minutes' walk from Wrexham General. Driving? Check the fixtures first. Wrexham are at home to Preston on Saturday 17 October, and the city centre fills up fast on matchdays.

The website also lists opening times plus family workshops and events. When you need a break, there's a café overlooking the forecourt and a new well-being garden, with volunteers on hand to point you in the right direction.

So, Is It Worth a Visit?

Yes, and it isn't close. It's free, it's on our doorstep, and it does justice to both halves of its name. Football fans can easily fill an afternoon, and anyone who grew up round here will find a bit of their own family's story in the Wrexham galleries.

Make a day of it. The Wynnstay Arms, where the FAW was founded, is half a mile away, and so is the Racecourse. If Wrexham makes the City of Culture shortlist this month, judges will be visiting later in the year, and this is exactly the kind of place we'll want them to see.

Been already? Tell us what you thought on our Facebook page, or drop a comment below and you may get a mention on the Marcher Vibe Breakfast Show.