IKEA Closing in Coventry (5 Viewers)

[chiefdave]

Who actually paid to build it? Was it IKEA or do they just lease it?

Had a look online but can't find anything. The way whoever it was from the council who was on CWR this morning was talking made it sound like Ikea rent from the council.

Although you wouldn't have thought the council would have built something to Ikea's spec without them being tied to a lease.

 

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[Philosoraptor]

The building doesn't fit nicely to the eye when comparing to the architectural village which was there before with the co-op et al.

I understand it took the council and the company a decade to agree to the whole thing.

 

[Nick]

Had a look online but can't find anything. The way whoever it was from the council who was on CWR this morning was talking made it sound like Ikea rent from the council.

Although you wouldn't have thought the council would have built something to Ikea's spec without them being tied to a lease.

Surely they wouldn't have built them a bespoke building like that and branded it in IKEA's colours etc for them to just be able to fuck off?

 

[wingy]

Turn it into an Amazon warehouse!
Can't currently envision an alternative use.
Conversion to offices,City's awash already, leisure is already well covered unless we're all missing something ,retail dead.
Edit; Going to take something highly inventive from the commercial property guru's .
Sure I read the population is going to expand significantly in the next twenty years.
Levelled ,then another two huge tower blocks anyone?

 

[Nick]

Turn it into an Amazon warehouse!
Can't currently envision an alternative use.
Conversion to offices,City's awash already, leisure is already well covered unless we're all missing something ,retail dead.

There's a thought, could make it into a massive Amazon shop with an Argos type thing for collecting / buying.

 

[Philosoraptor]

I don't know if City Centre - South has been mentioned anywhere but the knock on affect this will have on it will be big when looking for another major brand name for the City which offers something different.

 

[David O'Day]

I work in various student lodgings in the city centre as an electrician and sometimes work late and go for a meal in town, the only place I see them is in Noodle Bar. When I venture into town at weekends for food or drink especially Cathedral Lanes there is not a student in sight. Same as Cov station on a Saturday the station is packed with students leaving for the day.

It's the perception of a younger city that attracts new things.

Still we could go back to the pre student city when the city centre was dead after 5.30pm

 

[clint van damme]

Well according to someone from the council this morning they've already got multiple potential tenants after it.

which out of town sports franchise have they sucked off this time?!

 

[Terry Gibson's perm]

I was listening to CWR this morning as it was still on from the match last night and Donald Trumps speech, some of the people on there were mad, one person thought it should have little craft shops etc you would need hundreds. One guy was saying that he went there everyday for a coffee but had only ever bought one thing apart from that is it any wonder it’s shutting.

 

[Terry Gibson's perm]

which out of town sports franchise have they sucked off this time?!

It would make a good basketball stadium so we could have another sport in the city nobody is interested in.

 

[wingy]

Something we're really short of in this country is Prisons . Lol

 

[fellatio_Martinez]

A big fuck off Imax cinema with an arcade and a massive food hall would surely do well?

 

[Nick]

I was listening to CWR this morning as it was still on from the match last night and Donald Trumps speech, some of the people on there were mad, one person thought it should have little craft shops etc you would need hundreds. One guy was saying that he went there everyday for a coffee but had only ever bought one thing apart from that is it any wonder it’s shutting.

There were always people in there just using it as a workplace and taking up the tables / phone chargers / plug sockets and making a coffee last for hours.

To be fair, I bought more IKEA stuff from there as it was closer than driving to Bham which I probably wouldn't have bothered doing otherwise.

 

[Terry Gibson's perm]

Something we're really short of on this country is Prisons . Lol

They could leave the doors open as nobody would ever escape that maze, it did make me chuckle when somebody said there are probably still people trapped in there from the opening day.

 

[wingy]

There were always people in there just using it as a workplace and taking up the tables / phone chargers / plug sockets and making a coffee last for hours.

To be fair, I bought more IKEA stuff from there as it was closer than driving to Bham which I probably wouldn't have bothered doing otherwise.

There it is then
Pop up entrepreneurial space like that new little Caf in Spon St
Pay for your time rather than anything you consume.

 

[fellatio_Martinez]

They could leave the doors open as nobody would ever escape that maze, it did make me chuckle when somebody said there are probably still people trapped in there from the opening day.

Some people filmed a complete TV drama series inside IKEA without IKEA even knowing about it.

 

[Sky_Blue_Dreamer]

There's a thought, could make it into a massive Amazon shop with an Argos type thing for collecting / buying.

Was my suggestion to do something of that ilk during the Jerde consultation as it was the only way forward with retail as it was increasingly going online. Got ignored.

Can't see Amazon wanting city centre when they've got a huge warehouse in Browns Lane. Delivery lorries would have a nightmare with the junction and the SkyDome/Ice rink pedestrian traffic.

 

[Terry Gibson's perm]

A massive sports direct and he could also have his other stores in there like HOF, the council will no doubt start begging John Lewis to take it.

The shop is to big and badly located but nothing a good bulldozer won’t sort out.

 

[OffenhamSkyBlue]

I heard the "vox pops" on the awful Adudu programme tyhis morning too - people think it's either a fucking cafe or a children's play area, not an actual shop where you have to actually BUY something to make it a going concern!
The Council gave IKEA the land with a 999 year lease (sound at all familiar??) - so presumably they will pay a ground rent on that, but i think it's their building.
Oh by the way, heard loads moaning that it's bad to be shutting down in the run-up to city of culture. They do KNOW shopping in IKEA is NOT culture, don't they?
And people saying "it's down to the council to DO something to stop IKEA closing" - what, like state aid??? It's NOT their problem - it's a shit location and a shit experiment which has failed, by their own admission. The thing the council DO need to do is find a suitable use for the site.

 

[Travs]

I don’t think I ts the perception that going to Ikea is culture.

it’s the thought of one of the biggest retail units in the city centre lying empty whilst we’re supposedly a thriving cultural hotbed....

 

[OffenhamSkyBlue]

That was my point - retail is NOT culture (necessarily). I agree it's not good to promote the "city centre dying on its arse" look ...

 

[fellatio_Martinez]

IKEA does have a section with art on canvas and other creatively designed tat so you could make an argument for it being somewhat cultured.

Well more cultured than a Primark or Argos anyway.

 

[David O'Day]

Argos has a whole bad art section of their catalogue though

 

[David O'Day]

Anyway shopping is high culture to some of the Brexit loving wastrels that inhabit our fair city.

 

[OffenhamSkyBlue]

Anyway shopping is high culture to some of the Brexit loving wastrels that inhabit our fair city.

Yeah, but in Gregg's!

 

[fellatio_Martinez]

Argos has a whole bad art section of their catalogue though

Mate, you need to "Live Laugh Love" more.

 

[wingy]

Huge floor areas are available here
Supplementary theatre / live art / music space?
It's definitely done as far as retail goes IMO .
There is already competition in those sectors .but nothing co- ordinated .
We miss out massively in the live arts ,/ performance sectors in comparison to other cities .

 

[David O'Day]

Mate, you need to "Live Laugh Love" more.

Can't fit it on my wall for all the Bob Marley and fake modern art prints I have

 

[fellatio_Martinez]

Brexit loving wastrels

I'm going to add the word wastrel into my everyday vocabulary.

 

[shmmeee]

The city centre definitely needs some green space, a music venue, and a football stadium. It doesn’t need more shitty shops that shut down after six months or yet more cafes and restaurants.

 

[wingy]

Can't fit it on my wall for all the Bob Marley and fake modern art prints I have

You're more in need of a B&Q for some cavity fixings !!

 

[David O'Day]

You're more in need of a B&Q for some cavity fixings !!

Ohhh MDF

 

[fellatio_Martinez]

Can't fit it on my wall for all the Bob Marley and fake modern art prints I have

Here you go. Now you'll never be in a bad mood cos wise cup say be happy.

 

[David O'Day]

Here you go. Now you'll never be in a bad mood cos wise cup say be happy.

Lovely I can stub the dog ends of my drum rollies in it as well

 

[Sky_Blue_Dreamer]

That was my point - retail is NOT culture (necessarily). I agree it's not good to promote the "city centre dying on its arse" look ...

Retail is a part of our culture. If this was in America it'd be seen as an almost intrinsic part of our culture.