Here’s how far you will now have to travel if you want to visit IKEA
COVENTRY residents have been blessed with having an IKEA store on their doorstep for more than a decade but they will face a long trek for those familiar Scandinavian home furnishings when the city centre store closes its doors later this year.
The Coventry IKEA store opened in 2007 and was warmly welcomed - not just by Coventrians but residents of south Birmingham and Solihull and throughout Warwickshire.
Its location also appealed to people even further south of the city in Oxfordshire.
When it closes the nearest IKEA store to Coventry will be the original Midland store in Park Lane, Wednesbury.
Located right next to J9 of the M6 it is most likely to be the IKEA store of choice for people in Coventry.
According to the AA Route Planner the Wednesbury story is 28 miles from Coventry city centre, with a travelling time of 41 minutes - going via the M6.
However it is worth noting that the 41-minute travel time does not factor in any congestion you might encounter on the M6 in and around Birmingham - a notorious traffic hot spot.
Similarly, travelling at peak times of the day such as the morning or evening rush hours would also add significantly to the journey time.
Outside of that, the next two nearest IKEA stores are considerably further away but it’s a tossup which one to go for in terms of travelling time.
The closest geographically is in Milton Keynes, which is 50.4 miles from Coventry city centre according to the AA Route Planner.
Travelling via the M1 the estimated travelling time to the store in Bletcham Way, Bletchley, is one hour and eight minutes, though again that could vary wildly depending on what time of day you might be travelling.
The other next nearest IKEA store is the one in Nottingham, which is slightly further away than the one in Milton Keynes but might be easier to get to.
According to the AA Route Planner the Giltbrook Shopping Park store is 57.6 miles from the heart of Coventry, travelling via the M69 and M1, though the estimated travel time is one hour and four minutes.
It is most likely that Wednesbury will be the store of choice for Coventry’s IKEA lovers, though they might want to think carefully about when they travel.