Since opening its first UK store in 1987, Ikea has become a Mecca for home improvement buffs and the most popular Swedish export since Abba.

But for Brightonians, travelling to the nearest store in Croydon can often prove trickier and more stressful than assembling a flat-pack futon.

Now a small independent company will collect your furniture, deliver it to your doorstep and put it together for you.

Brighton Flatpack came about after father-of-three Gary Pleece journeyed up the M23 and through the snarled-up suburbs of Surrey once too often.

He realised there were probably hundreds of other drivers in his position who would rather be anywhere else than sitting in a snake of traffic. So he decided to capitalise on the idea and go into business.

Mr Pleece, 37, said: "Ikea is great but it's no fun when you have to go to Croydon to buy it. Once you leave the M23 you've got ten miles of single-lane traffic, which is pretty horrendous.

"We were trying to fit large items into a small car and sitting in traffic jams there and back and most of the time our friends had asked us to bring stuff back for them. Eventually I thought there's money to be made here so I set up my own business."

Mr Pleece now makes fortnightly trips to Ikea in a van and has a growing list of customers.

Last week, he made a last-minute dash for the Brighton Festival Fringe, which urgently needed swivel chairs and stage furniture.

Mr Pleece said: "I got a call on Wednesday from the festival organisers, who needed some chairs for dressing rooms at the Pavilion and Gardner Arts Centre. We picked the furniture up on Thursday and assembled it hours before the first show was due to start.

"I went to the arts centre to see the author Doris Lessing and the compere was sitting on one of the chairs I had put together. I was praying it wasn't going to collapse."

Mr Pleece co-runs the company with Mark Walker, 39, another veteran of the Ikea run, who is less involved in day-to-day operations but designs the web site.

The company, based in Finsbury Road, Brighton, charges its customers 20 per cent of the value of the order and expects to make more frequent trips once demand increases.

Mr Pleece added: "We've done our trials and we know this is a great service for all sorts of people - families, people without cars, people who want large objects, students, property developers or landlords."

The company hopes to extend its service to people living farther afield, including Worthing and Shoreham.

Ikea is the world's biggest furniture retailer with 12 stores across the UK. New sites are being sought in a number of different areas, including Southampton.

Tuesday May 11, 2004