I don't bother to keep a printer at home, too much hassle with inks. Instead I use library, internet cafe or Jessops.
I find the quality at Jessops is very good, no complaints at all. I usually walk in with my pics on a memory stick.You sit at a touchscreen which is reasonably easy to use and allows selection of pics, cropping, printing in a range of sizes, matt/gloss, border or not. First time is a learning experience, after that it's quite easy.
The final prints look really good. I usually don't crop too tight just in case of alignment error on their automatic machines. The colours are excellent, though sometimes a little darker than seen on an illuminated terminal screen.
You can do a single print for thirty or forty pence, with a quick turnaround (one hour or even 30min), so it would be worth trying a one-off to see how it goes.
Hope this is helpful.