The potential sale of the former Hippodrome site could help
re-energise Wrexham town centre.

The site is due to go up for auction on Tuesday, having been vacant for more than 10 years.

Town centre forum chairman Alex Jones said he would like to see it used as a green space with outside dining, which, along with the ongoing work to revitalise Henblas Square and the news Techniquest would be setting up in the old TJ Hughes store, would help attract more people into the area.

Buyers will have their chance to snap up the vacant site at a sale to be held on February 20 at the AJ Bell Stadium in Manchester from noon.

The land, at the heart of Wrexham town centre, is expected to fetch offers of £50,000 plus, according to the guide price listed by Pugh Auctions.

The Hippodrome entertained Wrexham audiences from the 1910s until its closure in 1997.

It was the last of Wrexham’s five music halls, which also included the Majestic, now the Elihu Yale, and the Empire on Chester Street, which is now the Saith Seren.

The theatre was built on the site of a former public hall which burnt down in 1909, and Wrexham Hippodrome Ltd was formed in 1913.

Mr Jones said: “We have already got plenty of vacant spaces in the town for retail to go into so it would be nice to see it used for something a bit different.

”When Henblas Square is reopened it would be good to have a green space and some outside dining to entice people in.

”We’ve got Techniquest going into TJ Hughes and hopefully we will know more about what’s happening with BHS soon.

”Ty Pawb is going to be opening soon and this is all going to help re-energise that end of town.

”We need to embrace Ty Pawb and get behind it – I think it is going to be brilliant. Footfall figures show that things are moving in the right direction and hopefully it continues.”

The death knell was sounded for the Hippodrome with the opening of the Odeon on Plas Coch in 1997 and it closed in the autumn of that year, reopening briefly over the Christmas season.

The building then stood empty for more than 10 years, while campaigners, including comic Ken Dodd, pushed for it to be given listed building status. It was unsuccesful.

On June 16, 2008, the building suffered a huge fire – just three days after the funeral of Barry Flanagan, the cinema and theatre’s final manager.

In 2004, the building was purchased by property group HMG who had plans to transform it into retail space.

Planning permission for the construction of retail units on the site was granted in 2006 but that has now lapsed.

For more information on the sale of the site, visit pugh-auctions.com