Dunno how does it look in the UK, but in most of the eastern europe JBC equipment is prohibitively expensive. Ok, we have JBC stations at work, if my company is willing to put out that much money, it's not my problem. I generally can't justify putting out something like 1.5-2x my monthly sallary for a soldering station.
I agree, that JBC qeuipment is very good in quality and extremly ergonomic (very light handles), but i can't actually think of a feature in soldering station that would make me pay that much money for it.