Maurice Hood wrote:
Want to buy a bread making machine. Any pointers in what to look for ?
Any brand best/best avoided?

What for?
Of the 5 breadmakers I have tried, (two seperate models, two purchases,
3 warranty claims), all have made 50 (or so) loaves, "as new".
As time goes on, the non-stick wears off some bits, and slop gets
into the mechanism, meaning that at 100 loaves they are a bit hard
to get out of the pan, and need shaking, as well as cleaning the rotor
being annoying.

Somewhere between 100 and 200 loaves, they will suffer a catastrophic
failure, but before this, the seal at the bottom will leak enough that
you can't use timer mode, but have to start immediately.
Total failure is generally collapse of the main bearing on the pan,
though on one the main bearing on the breadmaker side went.

For 1-2 loaves a month, they'll last 'forever'.
For daily breadmaking, buying flour in sacks, not bags, they won't
stand up to it long.
These are the ones at the bottom end of the market, with the loaf baked
in a removable pan with a stirrer at the bottom.
I'm unconvinced that this style can be made to last long.

On the slightly higher up models, you can get spare pans, but it'd probably
be cheaper in most cases to simply find an entry-level model with a 3 year
guarantee.
3 years/55 quid = 15 quid/year.
Admittedly, if returning stuff multiple times isn't for you, you may want
to look further up the scale.
I'd prefer one that stirred the loaf from the top, as that way there is
no seal that has to take ground up bread and 200C, a combination which
isn't going to be cheap to get right.