IKEA L'Hospitalet

Very large version of the ubiquitous chain, situated on the main road into Barcelona from the airport. Car access is via Calle de las Ciencias: it's about a 10-minute walk from Bellvitge railway station. Buses stop close by on Gran Vía from central Barcelona.

We found the stock availability reasonably good, although we had to make two visits as they had run out of a few items. The choice of soft furnishings was good, and they had some good-value special offers on things like rugs.

One oddity of opening times in Catalonia is that they are only allowed to open on certain Sundays, and the choice of dates - specififed by the regional government - seems pretty random. Ring in advance to check they are open, to avoid a wasted trip.

The snack-bar serves very limited Scandinavian fare (nothing vegetarian), although the cafe and restaurant on the first floor both have sandwiches, pastries and good coffee. As ever, there are good facilities for children, and free lockers so you can leave coats, etc behind.

The staff were helpful and friendly (more so than in the London stores), but the delivery service was a bit wobbly: the delivery men arrived late, after the agreed delivery slot, couldn't work out how to use the door-bell, and nearly drove off without making the delivery. Fortunately, we managed to catch them first, and we also had to persuade them to stay long enough for us to check everything had arrived (which it had). Everything delivered came with the requisite number of screws, bolts, etc.

So: the store gets four stars on its own, but three on this occasion considering the delivery service.