Why should I host in the UK?

Generally, you should try and get your web servers as 'close' to the audience as possible.

That means that the number of routers data has to cross between your visitors dialup connection and your server ought to be minimised. This means that if all your visitors are coming from Freeserve in the uk, then you might want to host your website at "Energis-Squared" (who provide the freeserve network). That's a bit extreme though.

It does however make sense to host it in the uk, and not on the far side of the moon, because the internet connections in the uk are, broadly speaking, less congested than the uk<->us links.

However, the cost of network connectivity in the UK is still fairly high so UK web hosting can be more expensive that US web hosting. UK hosts are also not as generous with things like bandwidth as their US colleagues are.

When Should I Not Host In The Uk?

When your audience is primarily US based, you need lots and lots of bandwidth or when you're very poor. You can get some real bargain basement deals from US Web hosts - see http://www.budgetweb.com.

Next... Where should I host in the UK?