CALLS have been made to tackle the problem of empty shops turning into an eyesore.
At a meeting of the Wrexham Town Centre Forum, Alex Jones – who runs The Bank wine bar in High Street – said he was appalled at vacant stores which were becoming increasingly dirty and unkempt, with no attempt to clean them up.
“I have been harping on about this for months but nothing is being done about the situation,” said Mr Jones.
“Some of them are a complete tip and it is not painting a good picture of the town centre.”
He called for the council to put as much pressure as possible on the owners of the premises.
Kevin Critchley, the manager of Eagles Meadow, said he had experience of working with property companies and said they could be persuaded to protect their image.
“You can’t force them to act, but you could embarrass them with pictures. A senior executive could decide to send someone to go and sort it out.
“If you can help make the shops look neat and tidy that would be great. We can’t actually do anything about the properties being let.
“You have to get hold of the right person, not a department. It will improve the street scene.”
The meeting was also told about Wrexham Council’s employment, business and investment scrutiny committee setting up a group to focus on improving the image of the town centre.
In a report due to be discussed by the committee today, the group says the percentage of vacant units in Wrexham was 10 per cent in October, below the national average of 11.3 per cent.