Is £250 enough for a decent one? or am I just wasting £250..

Its my budget, mentally so don’t want to go over it by much or am I better off sticking to my grinder, cafetiere or Aeropress?

We got a delonghi at work thats currently on amazon for under that. It has to be said i’m a fairly low level coffee snob, just use supermarket beans, but I like it a lot. Much prefer it to the aeropress I use at home.

Probably should also say I only really use it for espresso, the odd time ive used the steamer wand its seemed a bit of a faff, maybe with a bit of practise?

You should be able to get an entry level delonghi as above.
They’re really good for your first venture in to bean to cup world.

i have a delonghi ESAM04.110.S Magnifica i picked up on ebay 2nd hand for £150. I think it’s great and beats the gaggia i used to have. great coffee and easy to use.

I got a refurbed one from the guy in this link. Comes with full warranty. Makes 5 coffee’s every day, great bit of kit.
delonghi coffee maker ebay

I’d second EBay as the best route to a low price,
I got a Delonghi Esam 5400 this week and paid less than half the RRP. There are lots of Factory returns on offer. It does make very good coffee but you still have to experiment to match your preferred strength/taste.
Mine has taken over from a Nespresso and in a lot of ways using a bean to cup improves the whole coffee making experience. You can appreciate more the influence you have on taste and the tinkering is very satisfying. I would also say you need quite a big space for these things to sit on.
I’m currently investigating how to make mine plumbed in.

There seems to be lots of Delonghi machines going used or refurbished on EBay, which concerns me. Are they hit it miss regarding reliability / ability to make a decent cup?

For a little more – Gaggia Titanium

I have 2 of these, one for both home and work – the work one has made 1400 coffees in the last 2 years without missing a beat.

They were around £500 new so a 2nd hand one should be available 2nd hand within your budget.

That Gaggia Titanium eBay listing is a little suspect! Surely they mean Bishop’s Stortford in Hertfordshire?

Deonghi Magnifica is pretty good. Bought ours from Argos (of all places) having had several excellent Seaco/Gaggia BtC machines imported from Italy and other places long before they were available here.

Nothing beats the simplicity of placing a cup, pressing a button and getting excellent coffee. Yes you can get even better coffee (for a price) but it usually involves more faffing around too.