We just returned from a month long visit to England visiting my BIL and SIL and their two kids. He's military and doing a rotation with Nato. They live near a small town in the somerset area and we stayed with them for about 2 and a half weeks of the month. It was nice, the old buildings, culture, food was good, etc...
Prices for groceries seemed pretty reasonable at Tesco, Sainsburys, Asda, plus the selection of food was far greater than what you see at home here in Texas. I also noticed that fruit and veges were cheaper, perhaps because they were closer to where they are grown.
Prices at pubs, rest's were more than at home. About $12 to $15 per person, plus drink. Some of that is VAT, and you don't generally tip.
Anyway, I did notice the lack of customer service, my SIL also said that they had many problems with retailers and no one seemed to care much. I guess they haven't got as much competition there and it's an island and they have a captive audience, compared to here in the US.
I saw a two bdrm apt in a beach town for 550 pounds a month. So, like $825 to $850 month. Homes we visited were smaller. But, it looks like everything was set up to be very energy efficient, which would save you some money.
Cars are much smaller. Almost no SUV's. Lots of Sprinter type vans. Public transportation was readily avaliable, and we did see lots of people just walking down the road if there were no sidewalks.
Overall, I would think that someone interested in a simple lifestyle could make it there for what it might cost in a large to medium sized city here if they tried.
It was an interesting experience, and you do realize that you have things pretty good back here in the US despite all the bad news you hear about.