I'm surprised that nobody has mentioned Peavey basses here... I got a Peavey Zephyr (now the Grind range) thru-neck 4 string for my first bass about 8 years ago, and I still have it now. It works fine and still sounds the business after extensive use and abuse, never had any problems with it and plays like a dream. That cost me about 240 but peavey also have a lot of cheaper basses such as the milestone 3 jazz copy, normally about 130quid.
I would say to try before you buy but I know that as a beginner it's really hard as you don't know what you're looking for, but from experience I can recommend peavey.