I can't give any UK advice but prior to living where I do currently I lived in a bortles 8/9 location, 6 years ago i started off with a 130 Meade Mini (5") and it got me hooked enough that a year latter I upgraded to a 10XTI and I will say Light Pollution didn't hamper the upgraded performance that I got. I was able to see object I was unable to see in the 5" and Jupiter and Saturn were OMG views though the 10", I now live in a bortels 4.5 location with the 10" and of course aperture fever is kicking me hard so I'm now thinking of going to a 16 or 18". But for this thread I'd go with the upgrade to the 8".