History of Marubbi’s Cafe

Marubbi's cafe in Bank Street was opened in 1936, but the family had other cafes in town before that. Paul Marubbi’s grandfather, Armando Marubbi, first came over to Wales in 1896, when he was 16. He joined his older brother, who had a garage on Market Street. Armando came with the Peeney brothers, who are based in Blackpool and the Sidoli brothers, who were based in Shrewsbury. Armando started a café/ tea room in York Street, next to the Wynnstay Hotel. They had an agreement with each other (between Peeney, Sidoli and Marubbi) not to trade within 40 miles of each other, under penalty of one guinea. In the 1920s, Armando bought another tea room in Abbot Street, where Herbert was born, and stayed there until 1936, when they moved again to Bank Street. He also acquired some land in Ruthin Road, where he built lock-up garages for rent. It is now owned by Albert, who has had a garage there for many years. Armando met his wife, who worked as a servant in Chester. She was also Italian and when they got together that's when the café or tea room started, in 1896 in Yorke Street.

For a number of years, Armando and his wife carried on trading in Yorke Street, because it was a busy part of town, then they bought another café in Abbott Street, which was a central area, and they were running two at the same time. That's where Paul’s father Herbert was born in 1922. Then the town shifted again and then they moved to Bank Street in 1936.

They had three sons and a daughter. Albert was the eldest, who owned Marrubi's Removals for many years, and it is still going strong many years later. Herbert was his second son, and he helped in the garage as a mechanic, and then in the café at a later date. Joseph was the third son and he was in the carpet and furniture business, called Crazy Carpets, on the Beast Market. Kate was his only daughter and she helped in the café. It's proper title is Marubbi's Temperance Bar because just over 100 years ago, the building was the Temperance Hotel, only a small hotel with five or six rooms (in fact, the room numbers on the doors are still there), then it was St Mary's School, and then it became Marubbi's café, which was re-organised and made one big room instead of smaller rooms. It's been Marubbi's café ever since. The idea of the Temperance was that there was no alcohol, and there is no alcohol today, so it was an ideal name to carry on. A temperance bar is one of a number of bars, primarily in Lancashire, England during the 19th century that did not serve alcoholic beverages.

In the late 19th century, a number of such bars were established in conjunction with the Temperance Society. Originally, these advocated a moderate approach to life, especially concerning the consumption of alcohol; later, they moved toward abstinence from alcohol. Temperance bars with full temperance licenses (allowing them to serve on Sundays despite English trading laws at the time) were once common in many high streets and shopping areas in the North of England. The movement had a massive following, fueled mainly by Methodists. The bars quite often asked their patrons to sign a pledge of Temperance, meaning that they would abstain from intoxicating liquors. Temperance Bars were the first outlet for the drink Vimto in the early 20th century.

Bank Street, Wrexham

Originally called Kendrick Street, this narrow street linking Hope Street and Henblas Street was laid out by James Kendrick; the founder of Kendrick’s Bank and first appears in the rate books in 1818. As all the properties on this street were once owned by Kendrick. It was for many years classified as a private street and the public access could be denied by means of a chain. By the mid 19^th century, with the closure of Kendrick & Bowman’s Bank the street name had become Bank Street. The Horseshoe public house was located on the left-hand side of the street, just before the junction with Henblas Street. This public house is first recorded in 1755 and is now occupied by an amusement arcade. Originally licensed to sell only beer it obtained a full on-sales licence in 1963 and was a Wrexham Lager house. It closed in 1985. There are a number of references to this street being known locally as ‘Little Solo’ apparently because of its appearance and because of the number of foreign businessmen operating here at one time. Today, one of the oldest and best known businesses located in this street is Marubbi’s Café which was founded by Armando Marubbi who arrived in Wrexham from Italy in 1896 and opened a Temperance Bar in Abbot Street before moving to Bank Street in the mid 1930’s. The small building on the north corner of Bank Street and Hope Street was originally Barclays Bank. The Presbyterian Church congregation broke away from the Welsh Presbyterian Church in Abbot Street in 1845. A first floor room in a warehouse on the corner of Bank Street and Henblas Street was leased at an annual rental of £12. The room, which could accommodate 150 worshippers on wooden benches, was officially opened on Christmas Day, 1845. 

Members attending the Investigation

Andrea Ellis, Kate Lloyd, Nic Fraipont, Tim Cowell, Penny Cowell, Jimmy Ellis and Mike Griffiths.

The Investigation

The group leader Jimmy had done a baseline test in all the rooms prior to the start of the investigation. A baseline test involves the use of an electro-magnetic field meter or EMF Detector, these are great! EMF Detectors can pick up electronic fields over different frequencies, where there are spirits there are usually disruptions in the electronic field. One of the most popular tools we have is the K2 meter. The K2 EMF meter is a standard EMF detector, much like its competitors. Most EMF detectors use a needle that will move up and down when indicating electromagnetic energy. As there is an increase in the energy, the needle will move to the right, indicating the higher levels. The K2 meter uses lights to indicate the energy instead of a needle, flashing and then finally staying light at the level found with the meter. We decided to start with our medium to see if he could pick up on any spirits in the shop. Upstairs he began to pick up on a gentleman who gave his name as Hugh Lloyd who was apparently a good friend of Herbert or a similar sounding name, Herbert was believed to be Pauls Marubbi’s father. Hugh was born in 1910 and passed over in the 1970’ s, Hugh worked in and owned a butchers shop close by in the Meat Market and visited Marubbi’s Cafe on a regular basis to eat and talk with Herbert. It was thought that Hugh died from a heart attack or some ailment involving his chest.

The other spirit our medium was picking up was a man who gave his name as Richard Rowe. Richard said he was born in 1870 and passed over sometime during WW 2. He was a devout Wesleyan Methodist and helped when the shop first opened as a Temperance bar. He also said that he was not comfortable with the Horseshoe public house in the same street that sold intoxicating liqueur. Mike asked him where he worked and lived. Richard said he lived in Temple Row in Wrexham. Temple Row is the terrace of properties located behind High Street, facing the Parish Church. He gave his place of work as 1 Bank Street and said it was the Provincial Bank.

When a premises has been haunted for many years the staff or workers are always inclined to give the spirit a “Nickname” and Marubbi’s café employee’s had apparently done the same. Richard told our medium that he had been called “Jack” which he had found amusing.

Penny and Kate went up to the top floors with a voice recorder and a K2 Meter in an attempt to capture a voice on a digital recorder. They appeared to get a few hits with the K2 meter when it flashed through its full spectrum of colours to its maximum setting of red. The voice recorders have still to be played back and analysed.

This was again repeated during the night when Nic and Tim also joined them on the second and top floor with similar results.

The Ouija Board

The Ouija Board was used on the top and middle floors with uncertain results. Some of the names that had been spelled out included, Sandra Yates, Becca? Not sure if this was short for Rebecca. A lot of the information was garbled or weak, so the Ouija Board was closed down.

Table Tipping

We asked for any spirit that was in the room to move the table and it started to move slowly at first then rock back and forth more violently. We asked if the spirit moving the table was Hugh would he stop the table rocking and it stopped immediately. When all the investigators came together around the table we called on Hugh to again move or affect the table, again it started to move slowly at first then build up until the table almost fell over at this point we again asked for him to stop moving the table and again it stopped immediately.

Unfortunately the feeling in the room became flat and everyone was convinced that the spirits of Hugh and Richard had left us, so the investigation came to an end.

Some Orbs had been captured on our digital cameras.

We would like to thank Paul Marubbi for allowing us into his café to look for paranormal activity and look forward to returning some time in the future. 

Do’s and Don’ts when talking to your child

Parents everywhere often hear this from their children: “I saw a ghost.” For the parent unaware of exactly how to handle such a delicate situation, the following do’s and don’ts might come in handy.

Do ask the child to explain what he is seeing or hearing.  

Getting the whole story will help you understand the situation better and how to approach it. Odds are your child is about to unravel a story or reveal an imaginary friend. Never try to pressure your child for details, however; he might clam up instead of telling you what he feels comfortable in sharing.
Do sit down and listen attentively.
Giving your child your complete attention says you think this is important and are willing to take the time to listen.

Do calm your child's fears and anxieties.
Chances are your child thinks all ghosts are "bad" or that he/she is afraid the spirit/ghost will hurt them. Before you can help your child out with this matter, it's important to spend a few minutes trying to calm him down. Offer him some water or sit in a favorite chair. Cuddle up, get comfortable and ask him if he feels okay talking about it.
Don’t tell the child ghosts are make-believe or that they don't exist.
This only tells the child he can't believe what he sees and will confuse him. It will also be confusing if he hears ghost stories or if he starts to witness strange things happening (voices in a closet, furniture moving, etc.)
Don’t get nervous, frustrated, upset or hysterical over your child's confiding in you. Children are very sensitive to what their parents are feeling and can pick up on anxiety, fear and doubt. Try to remain calm and only listen to what your child has to say.
Don’t encourage improper activity like séances or Ouija board sessions.
These things can only make a situation worst and they foster improper habits. Some activities require an experienced host and your child may see these things as a "cure-all" to the situation then lose hope when they don't work.
Do tell the child that you will help him/her deal with the situation.
Parents are a child's first defense. Thank your child for sharing this with you and assure them that you will help them out. Let them know they aren't alone and that you will do

What you can do to make the problem go away.
Do ask the child how the situation makes them feel.
It's important to understand how the child feels about their new "friend." Even if a child is not afraid and feels even happy to have a "friend" to "play" with, keep a close eye on the situation and stay apprised on how your child feels about it. Talk to them the minute they start to feel stressed, anxious or afraid.

Don’t put down or discourage your child for telling you this.
Kids take a big leap of faith when it comes to confiding in their parents. Be sure to remain objective about the situation and never express doubt of your child's perceptions or tell them they have an overactive imagination. If they feel you don't believe them, they'll start to clam up and you could miss out on learning of something worse happening later on.
Don’t rely on everything people tell you about spirits/ghosts and hauntings or things you read on the Internet.
Family members suggesting you get rid of a TV in your child's room because ghosts are coming out of it or friends encouraging you to move away are only trying to help in whatever way they know how. Trust your instincts and do only what you feel comfortable with. An expert group or investigator can offer more experienced advice on what to do.

If you’re still not sure of how to handle this situation, the North Wales Paranormal Group and we will do everything they can to help you.