Moving to France - converting large amounts of GBP to Euro

[thefrog]

Hi, I may be moving to France in the next few months and will likely sell our house in the UK, pay off the mortgage and want to convert the remainder into Euros to buy a property there.

I already have a bank account in France and I'm sure my UK bank will be more than happy to organise the transfer with an appropriate amount of fees, etc... so looking for the most cost-effective solution for amounts in the region of £300k+

Options as I see them:
-Use a currency exchange bureau - which is best these days ? Seeing the best one today could be the worst tomorrow, are there decent comparison web sites you use ?
-Open a GBP/Euro account, but while convenient, is this the cheapest way to exchange money ? Not too fussed about long term exchange rates on small transactions (see below), but on £300k, a small change in rate can make a big difference !

I'll probably open a GBP/Euro account anyway, so that I have a means to pay in pounds for online purchases + occasional spend, but it can't be in the UK for tax reasons (I think that if I have an account in the UK, I am technically still a resident...). Again, suggestions on the best ones about would be welcome, considering I don't intend on leaving large chunks of cash in there (maybe up to 5k max).

Thanks

[thefrog]

Cool, I'll look into them for the big transfer, any thoughts on UK/Euro accounts ? I'll probably have to close my UK bank account for tax purposes, really don't want to have to fill in two tax returns every year !

[thefrog]

Perik Omo said:

We didn't and haven't closed our UK accounts since we moved over in 2007. You need to fill in the "leaving the UK tax form" so you won't be liable for UK tax and fill in the relevant French tax forms. It's all sorted out under the Double Tax agreement so you won't end up paying tax twice. We also complete a UK tax form every year (R85 I think it is) to claim for tax deducted from bank interest at source as some banks won't accept the R105 tax form and will always deduct tax from the interest received.

Ok, will look into it some more. Thanks.

[thefrog]

Thanks everyone for your suggestions, bookmarked this thread for reference when the time comes.