Collections from Coventry Transport Museum to be displayed at former IKEA

[dutchman]

Items will either be disposed of or moved from the Coventry Transport Museum to IKEA on Croft Road



Collections currently being stored at the Coventry Transport Museum and at off-site locations around the city could be displayed at the former IKEA. Items are being reviewed as part of a 'large-scale' project.

Plans were revealed for 300 homes to be constructed on the site of the Coventry Transport Museum on Hales Street. It would form part of the regeneration project City Centre North.

But Coventry City Council has since confirmed that the idea was only discussed at the UK Real Estate Investment and Infrastructure Forum (UKREiiF). Councillor Jim O'Boyle told CoventryLive that no relocation deals had been agreed.

Culture Coventry currently holds around 300,000 objects, which are now being reviewed. Some of the items currently in storage are being moved to IKEA on Croft Road.

Collections will be displayed as part of the City Centre Cultural Gateway (CCCG) project. Others without a 'strong public benefit' will be disposed of, with the money reinvested into maintaining, preserving and acquiring new items for the Coventry Transport Museum.

Cllr O'Boyle said: “No decisions have been made about the Transport Museum. When we announced the plans around converting IKEA to the National Collection Centre to include both British Council and Arts England exhibits in there, the one thing we have always known is that we have wanted to utilise some of the space there for some of the exhibits that Coventry Transport Museum cannot exhibit at the Transport Museum itself.”

He continued: “We have got exhibits in lockups around the city that cannot be seen to the public, so we have wanted and are doing that, and there is a piece of work ongoing in order to make that happen.”

Highlighting the importance of the Coventry Transport Museum, Cllr O'Boyle said: “We believe that Coventry Transport Museum is not just important to Coventry, it is important to the UK. Coventry was the birthplace of the UK automotive sector, so it makes absolute sense to want to properly realise the opportunity and the potential that both those two things offer, so in that sense, that is a piece of work that is ongoing.”

A spokesman for CV Life, which manages the items at the Coventry Transport Museum, said: “Collections reviews provide an opportunity to review plans and practices relating to acquisition, disposal and loans to ensure that the collection is being used effectively for public benefit.

“It provides opportunities to acquire new items for the collection, increasing the cultural offer in the city. New acquisitions provide opportunities to bring a range of community groups together, creating a sense of place.”