BB,
Not so sure about that.
Went to visit them, and they still market themselves as part of the Atlantic Group. The guy I was speaking to (for nearly 2 hours!) even got called away to see the Atlantic group CEO.
He went pretty smartish, so I get the impression that AFT still have direct links, even if they trade as a susiduary.
I didn't see "The Instructor" mentioned, but everyone else seemed very nice and the set seemed more suited to professional flying than an average flying club.
Good ops room, organisation, aircraft are clean, well maintained and equiped to modern standards, as well as the chance to train in an ATC environment.
PPL first, and we will go from there.
Thanks all for your advice/posts