BACS is ok all over Europe if you are selling, but if you want to pay out of a UK bank to a European bank, it is a hassle - you can only make a paper transfer, and it is cheaper to use Paypal for anything up to about £500 -and about 2 weeks quicker. Paper transfer costs £9 - £15 plus you lose heavily on the exchange rate (which is where Paypal scores better).
There are a couple of continental web banks that will accept EU customers, so you can make or receive an automated BACS payment for about 1€ - but you don't get plastic unless you're a resident, you still have to put cash in there, and from the UK ...
I was investigating the matter because I wanted to buy things from German companies, who refused to accept that Paypal was my best option for paying them.
Whatever, I decided that a continental account had some potential if you are dealing on eBay, or you have some other way to put cash in there without using a UK bank.
You can transfer proceeds of sales into it from your Paypal account, that costs you the same as it would if using a UK account. The cash does make a little interest.
Then you have the funds available to make BACS payments on the continent, and if you need to transfer the cash into your UK account, a transfer is cheap.
For a one-off payment to someone you trust, it can be cheaper to get one of those pre-loaded holiday cash cards, send it over, and let them pull it out of their local cash dispenser.
Rambling on again, Crabby ... WTH it might help someone.