I used to be in the same boat but have to say Lloyds did a great job to get me started. I found them very helpfull in setting up an account, when it turned out it could nt provide them with a utility bill they just set up and offshore account in the Isle of Man. This account works exaclty as any other UK bank account and I don`t pay any fees for transferring money etc either. Their online banking system is also pretty good because it also shows your credit card bills. Having said that, transferring money to the "Real Europe" does cost 9 pounds at a time, but if you just wire something across every 3 months instead of every month you earn the same amount in interest
All in all, give them a try!
