I'm doing English and French and I do agree with many of you that my French language skills at A-Level felt better than they do now (though I'm averaging a decent 2:1 in language classes so I can't be doing terribly.. but anyway). However, I adore the culture side to my course - it's so varied, we're sampling nearly all aspects of French culture: literature, film, philosophy, pop music even. Next year I plan to focus on literature and film (with a smidge of philosophy) on the French side of my degree.
One thing language courses need to make student more aware of is that the place students will do the majority of their language learning is during the year abroad. Grammar is something that is primarily learnt in the UK, but the vast majority of the vocabulary and idioms you'll learn during your degree will be in the country in question. I too had a misconception that my French would be SO much more improved after my first year of uni, but the reality is that the fluency will come when I go to France. And I'm fine with that because I really appreciate the culture side of my degree.
Also people need to really look into the course content of each uni. There's a girl on my course who's leaving because she's not into literature and it plays a huge role in the Warwick 1st year course. Basically, if you don't care about culture and fluency is your primary aim then go to York or somewhere where the course is pretty much just language.