What are Fusion Sports up to these days?
I bought a Fusion season before last... he only lives about 10 mins from me. I assume you can still get a fusion if you want one.
Not quite Manchester though.. more like Crewe.
With your budget i think you could end up with a really nice stick from any of the names mentioned, your also not that far from MSR in stoke if you wanted a more economical option or a back up or net bat.
2 others in stoke, JS sports (the bat Cave) have loads of mainstream gear and also sell Shark bats, plus another one to look at would be Spyder... loads of those bats in our league and too be fair one of our lads has one that would rival most top end bats i have seen for looks and performance.. its a great bat.