Wayne Jones has no trouble picking his most surreal moment since Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney bought Wrexham.
“I’m sitting there having a pint with Will Ferrell,” says the breakout star of the Welcome to Wrexham documentary and landlord of The Turf pub, which stands in the shadow of the Racecourse Ground. “Then my phone pings and it’s Ryan Reynolds, asking if I’m looking after Will.
“I said to my wife afterwards, ‘What the hell has happened to my life in the last 18 months?’”
He might well ask. The pub Wayne has run these past 15 years is so interwoven with the football club that the players used to change there before games in the 19th century.
But, since featuring heavily in series one of the show charting the Hollywood owners’ first full season at the helm, The Turf is now firmly on the tourist trail for overseas supporters.
Hundreds pop in most weeks, many wanting selfies with Wayne as well as a pint and a bite to eat. His wry humour and passion for the city as well as its football club clearly resonate with those from the United States and Canada who have put north Wales on their sporting bucket list.
“I wake up every day and think it’ll slow down now the documentary has been out several months,” says Jones. “But it doesn’t. They just keep on…
