Christian McArdle wrote:
If I installed a pump on the hot water outlet from the tank, this
would give all the taps in the house a huge performance increase. I
assume it is possible to get a pump that is automatically activated
by sensing water flow??

Yes. They are called shower pumps. Stuart Turner are known for quality
versions. Otherwise, cheapies are available. They are quite capable of
running more than just showers.

System is a conventional and vented... OH and can someone answer why
it is that here in the UK these junky (sh*ty) systems are common as
opposed to much better systems on the continent/USA ???

They were banned until the late 1980s. They are widely available now,
if you can persuade a typical Luddite installer to install them. They
are usually known to them as "Heatrays", an anglicised version of
"Heatrae Sadia Megaflo". Most installers think they eat children, or
at least shine ionising microwave radiation into them.

Christian.

Didn't the OP just mean combi or pumped type systems?

The trouble with many of the mono taps that are on sale is that they are
designed for continental fully pumped systems, so are not compatible with
conventional UK systems.
If you take them apart its quite obvious the bore, when they are fully open,
is pathetic, never mind the narrow feed pipes.
Get proper taps designed to work on gravity systems and remove any flow
restrictors.