The UK isn't the best place for software people in my opinion. I have been around for a little over 10 years in the field now and worked for big, medium and small companies. I think this is because people seem to gamble more in SF by investing in companies which we don't really have much of in the UK. You don't get the big angel investors or VCs sticking a million £ into a start up. I know of a few start ups that got some VC funding but most were small under £100k investments and normally by many people. Crowd funding seems to be picking up a bit here though.

I certainly feel valued as an intellectual everywhere I have worked but I may just be lucky?

Disclaimer : I'm not from the UK, nor have I ever worked there

The UK as a whole has long had a reputation for having low wages relative to the US. Anecdotally, I recall coming across a mention here on HN where certain dev jobs were being classified as "clerical" and offered at around ~$20k - $25k USD equivalent.

London's an awful lot better than most of the rest of the UK. I'm on a similar package as the post above, but only since moving to London.

Working anywhere else in the UK, I'd struggle to get half that.

NO unfortunately the "two Cultures" divide in the UK is very strong!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Two_Cultures