Ive recently completed my JAR 66 B1 at Brunel college in Bristol, and was lucky enough to be sponsored by a private jet company but currently work for a small airline in the UK, the course consists of 3 years at college, (if you pass all exams within 3 attempts and achieve 95% attendance then the minimum requirement for hands on practical experiance is 2 years before the CAA will issue a basic licence)
All in all it takes around 5 years to gain your basic licence without type ratings, which is well worth it at then end especially as there is a major shortage of licenced engineers within the industry.
I believe the best choices of colleges are: Brunel , Newcastle and Kingston that offer JAR 147 approved training, also offering the opurtunity to do a degreee in aircraft engineering aswell as the licence but at the end of the day its the licence that counts!.
Brunel: TEL-0117 904 5103 or
www.cityofbristolcollege.co.uk, ask to speak to Ram Naidoo for information etc
Newcastle: 0191 271 5821 or
www.newcastleaviation.co.uk ask to speak to Jeff Watson for information etc
Kingston: 020 8547 8234 or
www.kingston.ac.uk ask to speak to Steve barns for information etc
If you require any info PM me.