Is there anywehere I can get bearings to fit the Pro 2 rear that aren't £20 for the set – also have any of you made / bodged something to knock them out and press them in rather than buying the tool?

Spanner sockets work for me.

£20 for the four bearings is going to be about right but do you really need to replace all four? the two in the freehub usually don't need replacing, just the two in the hub itself.

I've not actually taken it apart yet, but from previous jobs, sockets seem to work ok for pressing in bearings – just wasn't sure if they'd be long enough.

From what I've seen you can only buy genuine Hope bearings in a pack of 5 for complete rear replacement – not sure which ones have gone other than it grinds a bit – up until looking I'd assumed there would be only one bearing per side and they would both need doing.

Don't buy genuine hope ones then 🙂 They're just the same as you can buy elsewhere.

Here's how:
http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/article/workshop-replacing-the-main-bearings-in-a-hope-pro-ii-21339

And according that that, you need 2 x 61903RS bearings which you can get here for a tenner:
http://www.mountainbikecomponents.co.uk/items.asp?CategoryID=107&Name=Sealed+Bearings

clubber – top class, thanks for that – much appreciated:)

They're just the same as you can buy elsewhere.

but you can still get duffers from elsewhere. I had problems with my Hope hub that after many posts on here and calls to Hope I eventually tracked down as a brand new bearing with poor tolerances so basically there was play in the axle. I couldn't tell just man-handling the bearing on its own, but as soon as it went on the axle it was obvious.

Fair comment. That said, I'd trust BETD to supply decent bearings.

Try ebrbearings.co.uk bearings excellent service and a fraction of the price