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It’s tricky tbh. £300 just about gets you an entry level electric grinder for espresso or a moderate espresso grinder second hand.
Or a very good hand grinder (for espresso and pour over), scales, and some equipment for making a nice pour over brew.
You may find that the advantages of a better grinder are slightly wasted on a cheaper espresso machine as it may struggle to make enough pressure, and grinding yourself may be more trouble than it’s worth.
As James Hoffmann said - making good espresso at home is a time consuming hobby as it takes quite a lot of effort to get right (or words to that effect).
You might see the best benefits from buying a newer machine second hand (like a Gaggia classic) as you’ll see lots of improvement over the Dualit which is about as cheap as espresso machines come. -
£315 gets you a nice modded Gaggia Classic.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/285430173676
Which for most people is all the machine they’ll ever need.
And if you keep an eye on eBay, you could easily spend half that (albeit for an unmodded machine).
And seeing this completed auction:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/186012733850?Makes me think that a second hand machine and grinder is more doable than I thought for £300. Although beyond searching for an Iberital MC2 or Eureka Mignon, I’m not sure what models are good to look for second hand (although there will be loads).
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Nef
@Sainsburys_Ed
I currently have a dualit coffee machine that I’ve had since I got married, and I was thinking of replacing it, it makes an ok flat white but it’s not great, is there anything that’s going to rock my socks in the £300 range or would I be better getting a bean grinder, nice beans and scales for that kind of money?