I fly a lot out of EGNX and did my PPL/IMC/Night there. Did my IMC as part of my hour building.
I did all of my hour building in the UK - visited about 30 different airfields from Newcastle down to Perranporth (and Dublin, Le Touquet and Ostend).
PPL hire rates for a C152/172 PA28 are extremely reasonable at East Midlands Flying School and Jason is a good IMC instructor.
Get the hours and then worry about your CPL/IR.