If you have an interest and passion for English then it certainly is a good degree

It's traditional and probably has one of the better graduate employment records/prospects of the arts degrees. I could ramble on for ever here but, instead, I'll direct you toward the English wiki article
http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/wiki/English_Degree"A degree in English encourages proficient skills in writing, communication and analysis. Graduates find employment in a diversity of areas, particularly law, journalism, the media, teaching, publishing, finance and consultancy. Of course, a proportion go on to study postgraduate research degrees"
But it is competitive with AAA-AAB the standard offer across many universities. Again, the wiki article discussed this in more depth and ha a list of unis and their requirements.
The strongest English departments include the usual suspects, Oxford, Cambridge, Durham, UCL, Warwick, York and some of the redbricks (Leeds and, to a lesser extent, Liverpool and Newcastle) and some Scottish ancients (St Andrews, Edinburgh and Glasgow). There are many others. But it's really important that you chose a course that interests in you. The focus of courses differ by department so course structure doesn't remain the same across all unis. In my opinion it's more important to chose a course that interests you than chose a uni based on ranking or something as abstract as reputation. Of course, if you are still taking your GCSEs then you don't need to worry about this too much yet.
If you have finished your GCSEs and are in your AS year then you'll find it hard getting onto an English couse without English lit at A-level.
I've moved this to the English subforum. You should get specialist advice here.