I have a UK account but wouldn't use it. .. Mine was blocked just because I went on a online shopping spree. Had a phone call claiming to be the fraud team ...
That happened to me too, yesterday actually
.The banks in both the UK and the US are implementing creeping de-facto currency controls, they are in big trouble with liquidity now that the Fed is tapering off QE.
Well my post wasn't to discourage you rickyjames with regards to using your uk account for bittylicious but to highlight what uk banks are doing to restrict personal accounts. HSBC recently had a limit on how much cash you could withdraw unless you had a explanation for it (like a receipt from a builder etc) but this has been reviewed.
I have known for a long time that my bank has similar restrictions but it was always a case of notifying them in advance of a large cash withdrawal. Though never had to explain what the money was for but now im sure I would have to.
My feeling is for a personal account accepting money and sending money to various accounts via bank transfers is just going to get you a lot of interest quite quickly. Even though its not you're main account I can see it might worth a try but for a persons main account no way lol, it might be froze for the bank to look into and that might take a while. To long for a account that's in use for daily things.