Got a friend who owns a pet fish shop in Cornwall, UK .. he's in crypto and if there was a way to acquire OK directly than going via exchange, he'd be up for it. Sadly, despite UK going blockchain from 2020, banks are still being terrible about crypto related accounts, and businesses have bills to pay so can't risk having their account blocked for days.
There are actually no UK based exchanges to even buy BTC via bank transfer, everything is localbitcoins or SEPA payment taking 3 working days (forget weekends) to Bitstamp say, costing £20 = $30.
Well, I've got a family member knowledgeable on FINCEN rules, so if your friend needs a bitcoin broker