Chester Street (; rarely ) is a street in Wrexham city centre, North Wales. It was once a main north–south road on the edge of the centre of Wrexham. The street has several listed buildings, as well as Wrexham's civic centre containing various council, memorial and leisure buildings, Coleg Cambria's Yale campus, Tŷ Pawb (former People's Market) and various historical buildings now demolished.

Listed buildings

Chester Street terrace On the western side of Chester Street is a terrace comprising seven individual townhouses. They largely date from the early 19th century and are addressed between to Chester Street. They are listed together due to their combined importance as a rare early 19th-century streetscape in Wrexham which needs to be considered together in the event of any demolitions and ensure preservation.

Old Registry Office

The Old Registry Office () is on the western side of Chester Street, north of Chester Street's junction with Lambpit Street, and part of a continuous building line. It is listed as an important local example of an early 18th-century townhouse, which was built as a residence. It was later used as a children's home from 1902, belonging to the Waifs and Strays Society who operated the St. Giles Home for Boys from the building until they moved to a site on Rhosnesni Lane. Following that, before and during World War I, it served as a refugee shelter for Belgians. It then served as Wrexham's (district) register office, from the 1920s to 1978, and is now a solicitors office. Alfred Neobard Palmer made references to a "Chester Street House", which was "new" by 1727, and that may refer to this building. The three-storeyed building's exterior seems to have been remodelled in the late 18th century, with it having stucco over brick, which is rusticated to the ground floor. The building's porch is of portico and has coupled Tuscan columns. The building's original interior layout largely survives almost intact, with a central entrance hall divided by an archway, while stairs are located at the rear. Multiple rooms of the building retain their early 18th-century plasterwork and joinery details, while some enriched plaster ceiling was renewed after being damaged by a fire.

In 2018, planning permission was granted to convert the building into apartments, although this was not acted upon. In March 2024, a planning application was submitted to Wrexham council to turn the building into an aparthotel of thirteen rooms. The plans were approved in August 2024.

No. 24 is on the western side of Chester Street, north of Chester Street's junction with Lambpit Street, forming part of a rare 19th-century streetscape in Wrexham. It was probably built after the construction of Wingett House, which is connected to at ground level, which was built in . was first built as a residence, now being used for commercial use. The exterior of the two-storeyed building is a rendering over brick, with a central entrance and its roof made of slate.

Wingett House

Wingett House () is on the western side of Chester Street, north of Chester Street's junction with Lambpit Street, forming part of a terrace and a rare 19th-century streetscape in Wrexham. It was built in as a residence, although possibly was also initially to house office accommodation. It is linked with , built slightly after, linked via the ground floor, with both buildings serving for commercial use today. Wingett House's exterior is a rendering over brick, with a slate roof, central entrance, and the building being three storeys. There are inserted shop and office frontages on the building's ground floor. Internally, the building has been heavily modified from its original design when it was converted for office use, although some of the building's original internal details remain. These include an 18th-century rococo-style fireplace made of cast iron and surrounded in reeded wood, as well as plaster cornices and details on the upper staircase. Wingett House was named after its former 20th-century occupant Frank Wingett, who lived and operated his companies from the residence. Wingett founded and operated Wingetts Estate Agency and Auction Rooms, and the Frank Wingett Cancer Appeal. The building later housed Bridge Books.

No. 26 is on the western side of Chester Street, north of Chester Street's junction with Lambpit Street, forming part of a terrace and a rare 19th-century streetscape in Wrexham. It was probably built in the early 19th century, and as a house, being later converted to a shop on its lower floors, while continuing as accommodation on its upper floors. Its exterior is rendering over brick, with a slate roof, central entrance, and two storeys.

No. 27 is on the western side of Chester Street, north of Chester Street's junction with Lambpit Street, forming part of a terrace and a rare 19th-century streetscape in Wrexham. It was built in and is now used as office space. The exterior of the three-storeyed building is a rendering over brick (or painted brick), with a slate roof and its entrance to the left. Its end wall stack is shared with .

No. 28 is on the western side of Chester Street, north of Chester Street's junction with Lambpit Street, forming part of a terrace and a rare 19th-century streetscape in Wrexham. It was probably built in and as a house. Its exterior is rendering over brick, with a modern tiled roof, a right-side entrance and is of three storeys. Its end wall stack is shared with .

No. 29 is on the western side of Chester Street, north of Chester Street's junction with Lambpit Street, forming the end of a terrace and part of a rare 19th-century streetscape in Wrexham. It was built in as a house, although possibly was also initially to house office accommodation. It is now used as offices. The three-storey building's exterior is of Flemish-bond brickwork, with a slate roof and an entrance to the left. It is now an opticians.

No. 35 is situated as part of a terrace, on the eastern side of Chester Street, north of Chester Street's junction of Holt Street, and is a rare example of an unaltered early 19th-century (Victorian) townhouse in Wrexham. Built in , the three-storeyed building's exterior is made of brick, while its roof is of slate. It has a rear wing, which possibly was longer in the past. The building is now used as an office, but with few of the building's original details surviving, however, the building's original plan remains. It is now a solicitors office.

Seven Stars

The Seven Stars pub building is located on the corner of Chester Street and Lambpit Street. The building dates to 1898. In 1898, the pub was rebuilt using Ruabon red brick in a commercial style, with elements of Arts and Crafts, to the designs of Liverpool architect Thomas Price, and built by Jack Scott in 1904. The building is of two storeys, while its exterior is of brick, with a slate roof, and an asymmetrical plan, while its main entrance fronts Chester Street. The building extends along Lambpit Street, to the right of the central entrance, with a semi-octagonal tower situated on the angle between Chester Street and Lambpit Street. The building housed a pub under the name Seven Stars until 2011. Following a short period of vacancy, it reopened in January 2012, as a Welsh-language community centre and pub, under the Welsh translation of its original name, as Saith Seren.

Feathers Hotel

The Feathers Hotel is a building located on the corner of Chester Street and Charles Street. The building possibly dates to as the Plume of Feathers, and the two-storey building was formerly a coaching inn, with remnants of the stables and coach house present behind the building. The inn was located on a popular throughfare for drovers to Wrexham's Beast Market. The building's current design mainly dates to , while the shop front dates to the late 19th century. The pub in the building closed in 2001, with the building later renovated into a clothes shop for a few years. The building is now () a Polish grocery store, with the converted upper floors now residential apartments.

Old Vaults

The Old Vaults pub () is located on the corner of Chester Street and Henblas Street. It was probably purpose-built as part of a redevelopment of the site between . The three-storey building's exterior is rendering over brick, with a hipped slate roof. There is a central doorway on the side facing Chester Street, as well as another entrance further left. On the Henblas Street side, there is an entrance close to the corner between the street and Chester Street, as well as another entrance to the rear bar to the right. It was known locally as "The Long Pull", which refers to the historic practice in the pub of dispensing a longer pull on a beer pump to get larger amounts of beer which would have attracted customers from other pubs. Before the Old Vaults, a post office was located on the site by at least 1786 (possibly earlier) and up to 1814, until the post office moved to No. 36 Chester Street, and the old site becoming the Old Vaults.

No. 56–61

On the eastern side of Chester Street, there is a row of 17th-century timber-framed shops that were originally cottages. They were modified in when converted into shops, and their workshops behind, dating to the 19th century. The western end of the row has shopfronts, while there is a passageway between and .

Other buildings

Tŷ Pawb (People's Market)

Tŷ Pawb is an arts centre, housed in Wrexham's former People's Market on Chester Street. The building was built as a People's Market in 1992 as part of a wider redevelopment of the area, and replaced the nearby Vegetable Market, which dated to 1898, and had a mock Tudor façade. It became Tŷ Pawb in 2018 and retains a Chester Street entrance. Before the market was built, the land housed Ty Meredith, possibly a townhouse of the Meredith family of Pentre Bychan.

Coleg Cambria

Former Groves Park Boys School buildings

There are former school buildings located to the north on the adjacent Chester Road. They served as buildings for a boys school known as Grove Park, with the red brick buildings facing Chester Road dating to 1902. The buildings are now part of Coleg Cambria's Yale campus.

Opposite these buildings was an area that was claimed to serve as Wrexham's first unofficial park. In the 1860s it was a plant nursery and later had a skating rink.

Welch Fusilier On the corner of Chester Street and Holt Street is a pub known as the Welsh Fusilier, and was historically known as The Red Lion.

History and former buildings Chester Street, as well as nearby Yorke Street, historically were Wrexham's main north–south routes, located at the edge of the centre and were once very busy. It was historically referred to as Chester Lane, and together with Lambpit Street and Henblas Street formed an area known as "The Lampit/Lambpit", which some locals believe comes from a lime pit formerly located in the area.

Henblas Street site development Bordering Chester Street to its west is what later became the Henblas Street Development. Other parts were demolished to become the Wrexham People's Market. As part of this development now sits Xplore!, formerly Techniquest (in Wrexham), in the building formerly occupied by T. J. Hughes.