I would strongly suggest a summer internship, preferably in finance: banks, auditing, tax, management reporting or just accounting. Adcoms like some relevant work and it looks good on CV when you interview for jobs.
Funding is even difficult to obtain for Brits. I know a few Brits who got admitted to MSc courses at LSE, Warwick, Imperial, Bristol. Unfortunately they could not secure enough funding to pay £26000 tuition plus living cost. So they had to decline offers even they are academically suitable.
Manchester (MBS) has a good business school and active finance club. I organises company visits to London financial services firms and some firms come to campus for recruiting. MBS uses flexible learning with group projects, consulting work with real life firms and case studies. It used to be in the upper tier, but nowadays is not as highly regarded as WBS, Imperial, LSE and LBS. MBS is possibly less analytical and quant. I would think MBS is more in the bracket of City and Cranfield.
Lancaster (LUMS): The undergraduate BSc Management courses are good, high entry criteria selects smart students, good teaching, decent partnerships with firms for internships. Good student satisfaction. But not so well known for MSc Finance. It has a superb reputation for its MSc Operations Research degree.