Cheap furniture in the UK?

Hello all!

I'm making my big move to the UK in about 6 weeks! Me and my sweetie are looking to move house from a furnished to an unfurnished flat. We're on a tight budget so I'm wondering where oh where I can shop for some decent furniture that won't break our bank acct. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated! He's thinking maybe getting some used stuff to start off with in a thrift store. Anyone have any experience with buying furniture this way?

you could definitely scour the charity shops in your area

the argos catalogue has fairly inexpensive furniture, as well 

Wooot!!! for Ikea!! Its worth renting a van for the day if you arent blessed to have an Ikea nearby. Just go and load up on cheap good quality furniture. Most of what I have is from there and in 3 years its still going strong. And they have excellent meatball and chip lunches mmmmmmmm *drool*. Yes I'll admit it - I have gone to Ikea JUST for lunch on a few occasions.

We bought our 3-piece lounge set at a charity/thrift shop.  It was in amazing nick - didn't seem to have been used at all, really.  That was over a year ago and it's really held up.  It was a chair, a 2-seater and a 3-seater.  It cost £190 for the set.  We were very pleased with ourselves!

We also bought our tv/vcr stand at a 2nd hand shop.  Found tables and bookcases in same woodgrain from Wilkinson.  again, over a year now and no complaints at all.

Even in the US, though, I used to love to look at "used" furniture, because it was usually (depending on the decade!) better quality and had more charm.  I find the same applies here, probably even moreso.

thrift and vintage stores in London, Birmingham and Manchester.

Ebay UK. If you can haul it yourselves.

I don't think I've ever seen furniture in a charity shop (not sure if this is what you mean by "thrift store

We have a super charity shop that sells furniture near us, and also the Salvation Army sometimes sells furniture.

Ikea is good for new stuff, as that's where lots of stuff in our house comes from.   

Really?  We have a few charity shops in our village, but none of the shop units are big enough to carry furniture.  I think the charities get to occupy the shops tax (or perhaps rent-) free when no other tenants are available.

Yes, really.  Our local charity shop that sells furniture is the Debra Charity(supporting a skin disease).  It's a huge shop in what used to be a small super market and it's very busy. 

The Salvation Army also has shops-usually out of town.

http://www.manchesteronline.co.uk/homesearch/latest/s/119/119458_salvation_style_from_the_army.html

Another good source for second hand furniture is the classifieds in your local paper and many local shops will have a bulliten board where people sell things. 

Wooot!!! for Ikea!! Its worth renting a van for the day if you arent blessed to have an Ikea nearby. Just go and load up on cheap good quality furniture. Most of what I have is from there and in 3 years its still going strong. And they have excellent meatball and chip lunches mmmmmmmm *drool*. Yes I'll admit it - I have gone to Ikea JUST for lunch on a few occasions.

I love Ikea too!
My MIL and I had this discussion the other day... looking around my open-plan lounge & kitchen, we were laughing at just how much Ikea stuff i actually own!

And I have also gone to Ikea *just* for lunch... on a 1-hour lunch break from my work!!
I LOVE the hot dogs they sell, not in the restaurant bit, but the bit after the tills.  You can get a really nice crunchy (not mushy) hot dog, and a drink for £1.25.

The only furniture in my house that is not either second hand or from Ikea is a green bookcase bought in the Habitat sale 12 years ago and a leather chair bought in the Bentall's sale.   
Oh and a metal locker bought from an office supply store for the middle child and painted a funky color which she uses for a wardrobe. 
Everything else is either from dead relatives, charity shops, the people who lived in our house before, classified ads, or IKEA.   

Everything else is either from dead relatives, charity shops, the people who lived in our house before, classified ads, or IKEA.   

The guy who lived in this house before us left behind a long wooden sideboard, which fits nicely under the stairs and houses DH's video collection, a really old & strong metal file cabinet, and the squishy leather executive desk chair that Im sitting in now. 

Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea Ikea.

We were very lucky in that our house came with it's own furniture and not only that but it was ALL new! Jon lived in this house a few years before he met me and when we were looking for a bigger house we saw that this was available and apparently Jon was the last good tenant they had so the landlords gave us everything new. Whee hee hee.

Sometimes its scary when you come home from Ikea and you look around your living room and wonder if you actually left Ikea at all. hehe