> I don't think Amazon UK ever stopped accepting VISA entirely. They threatened to, and then I think they blinked at the last minute.

On the former, you are correct, my bad wording. On the latter, I would suggest they probably reached a last-minute deal with VISA rather than blinking of their own accord.

> I'm not aware of any high street banks that offered it easily

Barclays and (IIRC) HSBC. Barclays still do[1], the only pre-requisite being you hold a GBP account with them too.

There's also Starling these days, of course.

Citibank was a great place to get one too, but then they introduced account minimums to keep the unwashed masses out.

[1] https://www.barclays.co.uk/current-accounts/euro-account/