A Smart Solution
Revolut Bank has no branches, and everything can be setup from your smartphone. This means you can open one even if you aren't in the UK right now. Provided of course you complete KYC ... this isn't some black market bank, it's a fully regulated and licensed one, after all!
A bank with no physical branches makes for really low fees, and you do all on a very nice and innovative smartphone app. Order physical and use virtual debit cards right away, with many more features and benefits. From using Revolut Bank for 4 years, I can say I'm very happy with them and it's my most-used UK account as an expat.
Extra Safe ONLINE
Virtual/Disposable cards are really useful, for securely shopping online - for example, if you signup to a particular site and use 1 virtual card only for that site, you can also set a spending limit and alert on it. That way if the site card data is compromised, your risk is completely fenced by that virtual card.
Innovative App Features
Then there are all the cashback and saving vaults in the app, you can setup fixed savings, rounding up vaults, cashback vaults and more. There are heavy discounts or cashback for major online brands across streaming, travel, shopping, dining, etc etc. When overseas, there is FEE FREE currency conversion right in the app, making it perfect for travel. They even have Cryptocurrencies, which hardly any traditional banks can offer!
Check it out, order a physical card, spend with a virtual cards whilst you wait!
This is a UK bank you can open from anywhere without visiting a branch (ever). Thought some might find it useful. (Full disclosure - referral link, but I'll buy you a coffee if you do it and let me know!