UK doll companies

Ladies and gents, I thought there was an area to guide us towards the best dolls/retailers in the UK. It may be lost in a post somewhere but now I can't find it.
The only doll I hear about is Kimber, now I believe she is not being made or there is a shortage. Im after alternative which wont break the bank from UK retailers.
Thanks

Kimber Deluxe is currently out of stock; stock was supposed to arrive in the spring but they don't have a timeline for it. The business is currently being offered for sale and so we don't know what the new owner will do. Kimber Standard is on sale at £299 (3/5 full price) but of course not as good as Deluxe.

The only cheap dolls other than Kimber are available from Lucid Toys and while I don't trust them, some folks have done OK there. They allow visits to their warehouse, so if you think of buying from there then make sure you do that and look at a doll first.

Well there is a Retailers section, but we dont really have any retailers as such, at the moment, best bet is to ask Members like Jedzed, Cuthbert, Tex. I only own plushie ladies, made by Valentina Girls, they are great companions but made of a plush material. I have made a review on the forum here. There is a site called Lucid Dolls, but I've never purchased from them myself.

Sorry i couldnt be of any more help.

Yea a forum of retailers is been sought after, but not many takers yet. There are posts on retailers scattered around the site I know, but nothing really organised in one forum as such. These posts were made before the creation of bobbies forum. Perhaps they should be transferred to the new forum :unsure:

Bobby moderates a forum called My Doll Purchase Experience where members are invited to write down their experiences with different brands of doll.

I have four dolls here from Lucid Toys and I’m very happy with all of them. The first time I ordered they sent me the wrong Doll, on another occasion the Doll statistics did not match up to the description on their website. Those two dolls are now gone. It is worthwhile going to visit them if you intend to buy a Doll if you possibly can. I never have, but whenever I order, I also email them to tell them that I’ve ordered and can they please ensure that they send the correct Doll because of mistakes in the past. I always get a very courteous response and I’ve never had a problem since. I would recommend them for off-the-shelf dolls but I really do not think you will find a better budget UK Doll distribution website.

Excluding Kimber AFAIK there are 4 genuine UK based doll vendors, Cloud Climax, The doll House, Silicone Lovers and Lucid.
Jed has pretty much covered Lucid above. They have also been discussed elsewhere a few times. I have bought around a dozen dolls and torsos from them over the last few years, they are perfectly OK but like all discount warehouse type operations you have to be attentive to the details. Many of their dolls are older models, basic spec or have limitations. Very few are customizable. (Think the Lidl of the doll world) The quoted spec on their website is not always perfectly accurate so it’s worth checking if a certain statistic if it's really important. They can’t really be bettered for overall value for money apart from Kimber which seems currently uncertain.
There are quite a few doll selling websites which have a uk web address and/or advertise as having UK stock, I know at least 2 of these which are essentially just websites and actually drop ship from Lucids warehouse. There are lots more which drop ship from Asia so while there might not necessarily be anything wrong with buying from them there can be complications and extra costs like import tax, customs charges, delays and the dreaded Border Force intervention.
Of course there are also numerous websites which have names suggesting they are UK or European based but are mostly of Asian origin- these are often the ones advertising dolls at crazy cheap prices and very often using WM style images or even worse blatantly stolen photos. It goes without saying that these are best avoided!

The Doll House and Silicone Lovers are both very good, Phil at the doll house is a genuine Doll enthusiast with a lot of knowledge. SL are a bigger company who also operate outside the UK (they also took over the now defunct Lovedoll UK)
Cloud Climax are typically more expensive than most other sellers ,they make a point of offering a “premium” service with tailored delivery options and carry dolls in stock. Personally I found CC really helpful up until recently when something seemed to change as my last few email enquiries were either ignored or answered in some garbled way that didn’t really answer my question at all - almost as if I had got a “bot” or something similar. I tried phoning a few times but got a recorded message so I left a message for a return call which I got no response to. It was quite irritating as I was on holiday at the time and wanted to purchase an in stock doll promptly. Of course in fairness this may be a completely isolated incident and I know they have many satisfied customers but it was enough to put me off them. A doll owner I know had a similar experience to myself around the same time.