All of the incubators in the UK are mediocre from what I've seen, some in fact ask the applicants to repay the investment yet still take a big chunk of equity. The only real exception I've seen is Seedcamp, which is great. Some others take half of the company in equity. There's a lot more investment in the valley.

I have no restrictions, so I can work from anywhere I want at this point in my life. A lot of it is personal, I know a lot of like minded people in the bay area.

If I had to stay in the UK then I'd definitely look at raising some angel money from the UK or some other programmes.

Mostly It's just personal choice and looking at which is the best fit for me.

Note: Expecting to get downvoted as I'm insulting England a bit but really the startup scene isn't fully developed yet although in parts is thriving. I'd rather be honest how I feel than not.

If you have a full team, talent, etc then this doesn't matter but if you're just starting out it puts more carriers in your way.

That's a broad brush you're painting with there. I've not really looked and have no idea who you're talking about, all the ones that have been on HN are nothing like you're describing.

The only one I remember is http://springboard.com, but there was also a northern based one I can't remember the name of now that had similar terms.

Out of interest which ones are you talking about that have these onerous terms?

Yes you're right but the reason I am is because there are so few even if there's only a couple using these methods they make up a large percentage of incubators in the UK.

I'm referring to http://oxygenaccelerator.com/

There's no personal guarantee on that loan. If the company fails, you don't pay it back. They are not especially onerous terms and it's the same amount of cash that YC gives for the same equity.