I'm currently learning at Panshanger and from my own experience have only good things to say about the school, the instructors, the aircraft and the general friendliness of the place.
I agree that some people might find the CFI on first encounter a bit loud and maybe even rude, but once you meet him a few times you find he is actually a pretty nice guy that just wants the best for his members and instructors.
The level of training is very good and I think this is helped that in the 9 months that I have been learning I have always had the same instructor, rather than some of the stories you read where people seem to get a different instructor every couple of months, in fact all of the instructor team are the same ones that were there when I started which must show they are generally happy.
The aircraft they use all seem to be in good condition and I have never had any problems with lessons being cancelled due to the aircraft being double booked, not available, being serviced etc.. with the only reason for cancellations being weather, and when this happens my instructor always make a point of calling first to save a wasted journey.
I also like the fact that once when the weather was not suitable for the exercise we wanted to perform which was a Navigation, but it was OK for circuits, the instructor said, 'I don't think you really need to waste your money doing another session on circuits, so maybe we should not fly', which I am sure in many other schools the instructor would have possibly been under pressure to take the student up for the circuits as long as it was safe even if it was not in the student interest to do this ?
The reason I went to Panshanger rather than Elstree was because I wanted more of a club atmosphere, as the reason that I am learning to fly is purely for recreation rather than a career. I did find when I visited Elstree that it seemed to be run much more as a business with more emphasis on getting people trained and then move on to the next person rather than having any club atmosphere where I felt I could just pop along after I had my PPL to have a cup of tea and talk planes. Don't get me wrong I don't have any problem with Cabair running their business like this as it seems a very professional company, it is just not what I was looking for.
All in all I find Panshanger fits what I am looking for in a flying school.