A Finer Recliner

I think it was in 2010 that I bought my current recliner. I was actually shopping for carpets in AFS, and they had it on display as a customer return. The salesman said the customer had bought a full suite, including the recliner, and then found they didn’t have room for all the furniture they had purchased.

Whether that was true or not, I don’t know, but ended up buying a decent new manual recliner for just 99 quid. The colour was a kind of bright peach, but I didn’t care – I liked it.

It got occasional use for a couple of years, and then issues with my back made it difficult to use my sofas, which are kind of low. So I started using the recliner chair regularly, and once sitting in it, the foot rest would go up and the seat would go back a bit. It was like being in my own private little cinema.

Anyway, it has been a bit rattly since the end of last year – I can’t really blame it, with a chap my size sitting in it every day. Last week, something gave as I popped the foot-rest, and the seat took a lurch to the right. Definitely wonky, and the foot-rest would no longer go back in. By putting the chair on its side, I managed to force it back, and that almost squared up the chair – sufficient to use it for a few days. My “New Year” plan to buy a new chair stepped up a gear.

Since I was shopping specifically for a recliner, I wanted it to do several things.

  • Independent movement of foot-rest and recline
  • High seat position to make it easier to stand when my back is playing up.
  • Foot-rest long enough to support my whole lower-leg.
  • Nice deep and wide seat for comfort.

I also decided to consider electric recliners as well as manual ones.

On Friday, I did a couple of retail estates in Peterborough, taking in DFS, FurnitureLand, Furniture Village and Dunelm. I saw two possible candidates, but nothing that wasn’t a compromise.

Saturday I started with a web-search, which quickly brought me to a UK manufacturer called Celebrity Furniture. They were noteworthy, because their recliner chairs each come in 3 or 4 sizes: Low Profile, Petite, Standard and Grande. Thus it was likely that the Grande size would give me the high seat and long foot-rest I required. Taking a look at their list of stockists, I discovered one was Peterborough Recliner Centre, on the outskirts of the city. I did some chair comparisons, and price checking, and then drove into town.

The saleman immediately endeared himself to me, as he found out what I wanted, pointed me in the right direction, making sure all the chairs were powered, then left me to it, with a comment of “Chap your height, you’ll want a Grande”. An occasional look or nod as he passed, but he let me try out the chairs and didn’t object to me taking photos as a reminder of the contenders, for future reference.

Celebrity Regent GrandeHowever, in the end there was a chair there that was exactly the right size, a colour I liked, and with more features than I was originally looking for. I mentioned it, and was told it could be delivered early this coming week. We talked prices, and although he was 120 quid more than the cheapest online price, he did bundle in a free emergency battery pack (in the event of power cuts). I decided to go for it, as sometimes having a local bricks and mortar store is worthwhile.

The chair has a seat height of 20.5 inches and a seat depth of the same, both at the high end of what I was aiming for. Because of the seat-height, the front unfolds into a foot-rest the full length of my calf. Seat width is a very comfy 21 inches – 2 wider than my current chair. It also has the riser feature, that helps you stand. While I don’t really need that, I’m not sorry to have it. There have been times when my back has been in spasm and I have opted to sit on a dining chair, rather than get stuck in a chair I can’t lift myself out of. Now I needn’t worry.

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