Id say HT if you want to spend £1350 and just ride it and have fun.

FS if you want to spend £1350 and then spend money making it better. Not so much the finishing kit and drive chain (which may have corners cut but will be functional). But stuff like getting the shock tuned to your weight and riding, upgrading forks or their dampers etc seem more important on an FS as it’s faster and bad suspension throws it off ballance. Whereas a HT a lackluster fork is easier to ride around.

You don’t ever need a FS for any particular trail, they just make it faster.

Aslo, dunno how tall you are and how you get on with them, but 29ers work so much better than small wheels on a HT IMO. Especially now that geometry is longer and slacker anyway, the perceived “29ers chainstays are too long so they don’t corner” flaw is somewhat less relevant.

Get a good hardtail – it’s hard enough to get things like a decent fork at that price point. Your money doesn’t go anywhere near as far these days, and manufacturers have been chipping away downspeccing stuff each year to keep models at the same prices.

Modern 29ers are worth considering too, there are some great options with slacker geo, longer fork, etc – it’s not all XC race machines.

I’ve done places like BPW on a hardtail – OK you’ll not be smashing down black runs but you can rent a Trek Remedy there for £65 so it may make more sense to just rent on those days.

Tredz take Halfords vouchers and have more discounted stuff, I got my Marin HT from them on Halfords C2W.

As is usual on stw I will blow the budget. Coukd you push to a 2018 whyte t130 at 1700 quid? Bang for buck they are unbelievable. It climbs really well and my lad literally makes it fly.
If not why not calibre bossnut tbey get mega reviews!
Bossnut

What about a Whyte 629? Bigger wheels but supposed to be very good.

I used to have a commencal meta sl full sus before it got stolen. I ride a bit of xc, trails in the local hills and reds and blues at the trail centre. Mountain biking since I was a kid but at a pretty average level.

I was planning to replace the meta with another ful sus but to get what I wanted was going to be about 2k, which I couldn’t afford. I ended up getting a used 2018 Cube Reaction TM. 130mm hard tail. Comparing it to the meta on the same routes… It’s a bit less comfy in the saddle, it goes uphill better, it hasn’t made much difference to going downhill for me, probably because I’m not doing anything too extreme, the odd small drop and jump.

The geometry isn’t as long and the long frames these days but it’s a good all rounder with a good level of components.

I’d get the nukeproof, actually I was in the same situation last year and got the nukeproof. Awesome bike, absolutely flies on pretty much anything, including reds at bike park Wales.

I’d get the hawk hill out of those choices. It’ll be fun out of the box but with loads of upgrade potential. Looks good too.

Canyon do some kind of cycle to work thing so maybe a Grand Canyon https://www.canyon.com/en-gb/mountain-bikes/trail-bikes/grand-canyon/grand-canyon-al-sl-8.0/

Or there’s a £1.5K Lapierre full sus at Cycle Republic if you can find it

Sonder evol os a great bike for the money

https://www.bikeradar.com/reviews/bikes/mountain-bikes/full-suspension-mountain-bikes/marin-rift-zone-1-review/

Hardtail all the way. Mostly riding on the flat.. full sus is a negative. Trail centres, £1300 hardtail is great for most trails. Easier pedaling, less maintenance. Save yourself some money and get a discounted 2019 model.

Check out GMBN doing the Megavalanche on a Scout.

Scout alternative….
Cube Reaction TM

Or get a top end FS 26″!

The revelation has the older moco damping (unless it’s a revelation charger rc in which case you’ve done well) but much bigger stanchions which makes them more stiff and accurate in the handling. They’ll also get less noodly on really rough trails. If you have the moco version you could choose later to put in a charger damper and make them Pikes effectively.

For me I’d have an fs if I could only have one bike and if you could pick up a sale bargain shortly then I’d still go that route.

I have a hardtail for playing on (Vitus Sentier with Pikes / GX 11 speed) and it is a lot of fun but for bigger rides on tougher terrain I’ll always take the fs.

If you’d fit a 16” frame then Cycle Republic (part of Halfords) have this:

https://www.cyclerepublic.com/boardman-pro-650b-mens-full-suspension-mountain-bike-2016.html

It’s a few years old in terms of spec but it has Pikes (way better than any other fork in budget), GX 11 speed, 4 bar suspension and guide R brakes.

It’s not the longest or slackest bike but it would be decent. I had the previous version with slightly steeper geometry and I did BPW on it and a few other uplift days and really enjoyed it.

For hardtail I’d argue that fork choice makes absolutely no real world difference. If the trail is rough enough to test its stiffness then the back end will be being thrown about too. If the damping is being overwhelmed then your legs are probably also knackered etc.

As long as it’s got some damping and it’s not too bad then it’s fine.

Be way more critical of the frame and it’s geometry. A great frame with a sub par fork will ride well. A great fork and a sub par frame will great bouncing the fork in the car park and kak everywhere else.