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A new little IKEA has just opened inside a Greater Manchester shopping centre

Emily Sergeant

A brand new little IKEA has just opened its doors inside a popular Greater Manchester shopping centre this week.

Of course, the Swedish furniture giant has a home in our region already, with a popular site in Ashton-under-Lyne in Tameside, as well as another in neighbouring Warrington just over the border into Cheshire – but this new Greater Manchester hub is on a much smaller scale than the IKEA superstores we’re used to.

This is what the retailer is calling a ‘Plan & Order Point’.

Having opened doors in the Merseyway Shopping Centre in Stockport, the new IKEA Plan & Order Point is a smaller store dedicated to kitchen and bedroom planning, where customers can pop in for home furnishing advice and expertise to help design their ideal space at an affordable price.

IKEA says the new Stockport hub is all part of its “ongoing transformation to become more accessible and sustainable” for shoppers in the North West.

Inside the 71 sqm / 764 sqft store, you’ll find a selection of different kitchens to browse, from a complete room with a combination of different units and appliances, including oven and hob, all for under £1,200, to a kitchen with fronts featuring a foil made of recycled bottles.

On top of this, all kitchen fronts, worktops, and a variety of appliances from the wider range will also be showcased inside the store.

When it comes to bedroom planning and design, there’s also a space dedicated to the PAX wardrobe system inside the store – with doors, interior organisers, and knobs and handles to help customers build their dream storage solution.

You can book an appointment, free of charge, inside the new Stockport store to start your design journey with one of IKEA’s planning specialists, or use the in-store self-service tools to design your own solution.

Staff will also be on hand to help customers order products from the full IKEA range – which can be delivered direct to your door, or to the nearest collection point.

“Our investment in the North West is part of our long-term plan to transform our retail business, continuing to make it easier for people to enjoy what IKEA offers using a variety of convenient ways,” explained Michael Parker, Area Manager at IKEA UK.

“The North West is a key region for us, being home to over seven million people, and also being the place that IKEA first opened a UK store, 35 years ago in Warrington.

Read more:

• Robots are now delivering Co-op shopping across Greater Manchester
• Sostrene Grene – the gorgeous Manchester shop with affordable prices dubbed ‘little IKEA’
• IKEA will buy back and recycle your used furniture – and this is how

“This new Plan and Order Point will allow customers to get inspiration and expert advice in convenient locations closer to where they live.

“Together with our existing stores in Ashton-under-Lyne and Warrington, remote planning and different delivery and collection services, we’re enabling an IKEA that’s there for our customers, however they want to meet us.”

Featured Image – Credit: Jon Super (via IKEA)

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You can now apply to close your road for a Coronation street party in Manchester

Emily Sergeant

Residents in Manchester can now apply to close off their roads for a street party to celebrate King Charles III‘s Coronation in a couple of months.

The Coronation of the new monarch is to officially be held on 6 May 2023.

King Charles III acceded to the throne on 8 September 2022, and on the day of his Coronation, will be 74 years old – making him the oldest person to be crowned monarch in British history.

The King will be coronated alongside his wife and the Queen Consort, Camilla, in a religious ceremony held at Westminster Abbey in London – which is the same place his late mother, Queen Elizabeth II‘s Coronation was held in 1953, as was her State Funeral in September of last year.

The ceremony will be conducted by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, and is expected to be a more “simmered down” event in comparison to that of the late Queen’s Coronation.

Buckingham Palace said the Coronation will “reflect the monarch’s role today” and will “look towards the future, while being rooted in longstanding traditions and pageantry” – with more details about the ceremony and celebrations on a national scale expected to be announced “in due course”.

It was announced at the end of last week that big screens showing the Coronation ceremony are to be erected in dozens of towns and cities across the UK, with be Piccadilly Gardens right here in Manchester city centre, and Parliament Square in Oldham, being two of the chosen Greater Manchester locations where people will gather in their hundreds to mark the historic event.

But, on a more personal scale locally, Manchester City Council has just announced that residents in the borough can apply to close their road off so they can throw a street party.

The Council says it want residents from all over the city to “dust off the bunting and join their neighbours to celebrate the historic weekend” by hosting a traditional street party, and for those wishing to do so, if you make sure to submit an application by a certain deadline, then the road closure fee will be waived.

On top of this, Oldham Council has also announced that it applications are open for residents to apply for £100 grants to be put towards community street parties.

100 grants are available being awarded on a first come, first served basis. 

Other Greater Manchester boroughs are also expected to announce celebration plans in the coming weeks, so keep your eyes peeled.

Read more:

• King Charles III’s Coronation to be shown on a big screen in Piccadilly Gardens
• The BBC is scrapping its TV licence fee for King Charles III’s Coronation weekend
• Pubs set to stay open late to mark King Charles III’s Coronation

The deadline to apply to close a road in the borough of Manchester is Friday 21 April, and you can find out more information and submit an application via the Manchester City Council website here.

Featured Image – Flickr