Hi Dave,
I am also a newbie here and also from England, Huddersfield to be precise. I bought my Heritage H555 about four years back, and finding them here in the UK is not at all easy. Jay Wolfe Guitars, who I believe to be in Florida are really good on exporting, but watch out for guitars on e bay, they are worth getting. I personally do not like the Schaller hardware, and have had everything replaced with nickel and the pick ups are now Seymour Duncan 59's which have a fabulous classic sound to them, everything from jazz, blues, rock, it does the lot unless you play in a shadows tribute band.... UK dealers tend not to stock Heritage because they just can't move them on, the Gibson brand has a lot of 'pull' for uk players, especially the younger guys who want to buy into the name. Usually a Heritage buyer knows what a Heritage is and specifically sets out to find one, mine took the best part of a year to find. If you want a new one, I would suggest bringing one in from the USA, maybe waiting till the £ gets a bit stronger against the $. If you are less choosy, a good used one from the states is also a good bet, but watch the import duty doesn't catch you out with the current exchange rate and negate any saving you might make by importing. As for a used one, just now I would expect a 535 to sell over here for about £900, I think that anyone asking more is perhaps optimistic in their expectations.
Best,
Mark.
