July is an entire month dedicated to putting small and local, independent traders in the spotlight.

As part of Independent Retailer Month, the Leader is giving such businesses the chance to share their stories of how they started and their time on the high streets.

Name: Alan Jenkins

Business: Smoke Shed

Location: 10 Henblas Street, Wrexham

Telephone: 01978 352967

Opening hours: 9am-2.30pm Monday to Thursday, 9am-2.30pm/5pm-11pm Friday, 9am-11pm Saturday

When did you open and why?

The shop opened about six months ago. I’ve always been involved in cooking, as a chef or in other ways, but I realised there are no good places in Wrexham that serve the type of food that I do.

There are good steakhouses in Chester, Mold, Shrewsbury, but I thought it was something that Wrexham was lacking, so I decided to gamble on myself and take a chance.

It’s been getting busier and busier every week since I first opened, so I’m very happy with that.

Why did you open in this location?

I think Henblas Street is a very underestimated location in the town centre.

You look outside now and there are a few closed down shops and it is a bit run down, but Wrexham Council are making their best efforts to bring in more new traders into the town and I believe that one day this street will be back to being possibly one of the busiest in the town centre.

The Leader:

Tell us about your business...

We serve a mix of stuff really, we open in the morning and we serve different kinds of breakfast food, then our main menu kicks in around about 11am, as well as a £6 lunch menu too, and lasts through to when we close.

You can get all kinds of different stuff here, we’ve got burgers, hot dogs, wraps, ribs, steak, wings, whatever you really want meat wise, we’ve got it here.

We’re proud of what we do because we use the best ingredients. A lot of places out there will sacrifice quality in an attempt to make more profit for themselves.

The Leader:

We don’t do that here, we use proper, decent ingredients to make the food that we do, we might not make as much profit per burger or whatever we make, but we get customers coming back to us because we do quality food, that’s it.

What’s your most memorable/proudest moment in business?

I don’t have one particular moment that stands out as the best or proudest moment, but I suppose I’m proud of the fact the business is doing well, we’re getting busier and busier every week. I love communicating with the customers, the banter that we can have, and I really enjoy meeting new people.

The Leader:

Have you had any strange requests?

No, I don’t think so, people know what they’re getting when they come here. We do things differently to other places and we make good quality food, that’s what people want and that’s what we give them.