It’s easier than you think to reach Ikea car-free
Ikea used to be the classic motor destination. Not any more.
I mentioned previously that, annually, Helen and I curse and wish we owned a car.
These were on days when we needed to visit IKEA.
IKEA was created for a car-based society. It’s impossible to get to and impossible to get things from without a car.
Well, actually, we stopped cursing last year, when a new train station opened at our local IKEA and it made us realise that IKEA has become a lot more carfree friendly.
1 Order online
You used to have to do the conga of doom round the whole store just to buy some tea-lights. Not any more: IKEA take online orders and deliver.
Online shopping has revolutionised living carfree.
2 Go by public transport
Quietly, IKEA has become accessible.
Croydon - when trams returned to London in 2000, a tram stop was built right next to the Croydon IKEA. Indeed, for a while, IKEA even paid for Ampere Way stop to be called IKEA. Nowadays, you have to be in the know
Lakeside - the vast Lakeside retail park was built a car-central but, five years after it opened in 1990, a train station was built. Called Chafford Hundred Lakeside, it’s outside London but in the Oyster/contactless zone. Connect with the tube at West Ham or Barking. It’s a 10 min walk to IKEA at the other end
Wembley - the original London IKEA, and the one Thomas used to be driven to as a kid (endless walking round aisles; no hot dog - he had a deprived childhood!). Still resolutely for four wheels and rubber tyres
Greenwich - the only IKEA in London where public transport didn’t have to come to IKEA - they actually opened a branch near a train station (gasp!). I’m sure it was a mistake but Westcombe Park is 10 mins walk away
3 Get delivery
This was the revelation for us. Having watched other people struggle to get the entire furnishings for a new bedroom into a Vauxhall Corsa, we simply paid the delivery charge and strolled back to the station.
As with so many things living carfree, we have to pay a charge that the car owners don’t. But we just have to remind ourselves that we save £3,375 per year on transport costs overall. An occasional £30 for IKEA ain’t going to offset that...
