WREXHAM'S Tŷ Pawb is celebrating its fifth birthday this week.

It's officially been five years since that wet, wonderful Bank Holiday Monday back in 2018, when 10,000 people came to see the site open its doors for the very first time.

Tŷ Pawb has grown to become a thriving, multi-award winning markets, arts and community facility, an Art Fund Museum of the Year finalist, and a nationally recognised, pioneering example of how to reimagine a public building.

These achievements would not have been possible without the extraordinary efforts of the community of traders, artists, staff, volunteers and all the other countless groups and individuals who form the Tŷ Pawb family.

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To celebrate this milestone, Wrexham Council has been delving through its archives to pick out some of the best moments from Tŷ Pawb's first five years. Moments that sum up what Tŷ Pawb is all about.

A lot has happened since 2018, including ...

  • Welcoming over 1,240,400 people through the doors.
  • Displaying 31 exhibitions and featuring over 700 artists.
  • Hosting over 300 performances.
  • Beomcing home to over 30 traders offering a wide range of exciting products and homemade food.
  • Winning awards, including the Gold Medal for Architecture at the Llangollen Eisteddfod, Architects Journal Retrofit of the Year & Best Cultural Building under £5m.
  • Reaching the final five shortlist for Art Fund’s Museum of The Year in 2022 – the biggest museum prize in the World!

Wrexham Council's Cllr Hugh Jones said: “I would like to congratulate everyone involved with Tŷ Pawb for their contribution in creating something, unique, ground breaking and truly special in Wrexham city centre.

“Over five years, Tŷ Pawb’s distinctive cultural and commercial offer has grown and evolved into a fantastic facility, loved locally and recognised nationally and internationally as a leading example of how to reimagine an existing building into a thriving community space.

"It has also shown enormous resilience, innovation, and creativity to meet the challenges of a turbulent world, when required; the superb Arts At Home programme, delivered during lockdown, being a perfect example of this.”

“Throughout all of this, the team have stayed true to Tŷ Pawb’s core vision of bringing arts, markets and communities together under one roof, inspired by the belief that art can be a tool for social change.

“Tŷ Pawb has also made an invaluable contribution to Wrexham’s burgeoning cultural scene. As well as drawing national and international coverage and acclaim in its own right, it played a key role in helping us to reach the final shortlist for City of Culture in 2022.”

“Art Fund’s Museum of the Year judges described Tŷ Pawb as: ‘A brilliant and brave idea’. Everyone in Wrexham can be very proud to have this on our doorstep. We are all excited to see what exciting times lie in the years ahead.”

A Tŷ Pawb statement added: "We love seeing happy families. Thousands of you have attended hundreds of our learning activities over our first 5 years.

"As well as our ever popular holiday activities, we’ve also offered masterclasses for young people through our Criw Celf & Portffolio programmes, and our Family Art Club continues to grow every Saturday."