THE CHIEF Executive of Wrexham Council recently had the opportunity to give a speech all about the county over in America.

Ian Bancroft has held that position at the council since September 2018.

Mr Bancroft previously worked in leadership roles at public organisations in Manchester, Merseyside and north east Wales.

Recently, he was given the opportunity to promote all things Wrexham via a keynote speech at an 'Economics Champions' event held over in Syracuse, New York.

He spoke about a range of topics, from the history of the town/city to the challenges Wrexham has faced, such as being labelled a 'Spice town' back in 2015.

He also praised the likes of up and coming local band Royston Club and Focus Wales festival, which was recently ranked ahead of Glastonbury by TimeOut magazine.

Mr Bancroft described Wrexham as the 'spiritual home of football', given its rich history of the sport.

He also spoke about the Welcome to Wrexham documentary, the takeover of Wrexham AFC by Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds and how Wrexham has become a 'global brand' as a result of this and more.

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A standout comment from his speech referring to that growth in popularity was; "Some Americans now on their itinerary are going to Windsor Castle, the home of the King, Wrexham and the Racecourse Ground and then back home".

Mr Bancroft added: "Not Welcome to Wrexham AFC, but welcome to Wrexham and that is worth a huge amount to us.

"They (Rob and Ryan) have invested into the team, into the community and are currently investing into the ground.

“Wrexham is now an international brand, which is quite phenomenal. It creates inward investment opportunities for our property businesses, projects, for our public services that are desperately running short of public money."