The technical (rather than legal) problem with the baofeng is the lack of input filtering. This means if you are near a strong transmitter on any nearby band you won't hear anything!

Since in the UK it is common to put radio masts on a hill top this can make them useless on adjacent hill tops. Adding a decent antenna makes it worse. In fact the only way to get clear receive is to use an input notch filter or a narrow band and highly directional aerial like a yagi

Edit: if you really want to use it on 2m or 70cm amatuer spend another £40 and get a yaesu