As a fellow Brit I use Netagio, they are an exchange based in the UK, and their main business is converting GBP to BTC (or gold bars!).
Their order book is a bit empty and you will need to validate your address / bank account. But they do make getting BTC a lot easier if you have British bank account.
Interesting. I'd come across them before and been turned off by their FAQ. Specifically the mention of "To prevent fraudulent activity and to protect ourselves as well as our customers, we impose a withdrawal wait time on the money that you deposit in your account", paired with the detail page that lists a delay of 3+ weeks if you want to withdraw 100% of your balance.
Seemed kinda sketchy to be imposing long waits like that. How has your experience been with them?
Also...
Lenders like will not go under 0.04% for a given day, under any circumstances.
I was worried about the 3+ weeks mentioned in there terms to, but in practice they get your BTC out fairly quickly (Normally with in hours, sometimes longer outside of office hours, I get the feeling that someone has to manually release the coins rather than it been an automatic process). So they aren't perfect, but if you want to convert GBP to BTC they are better than most of the alternatives.