I need to get a bit of cash back to the UK. I have a bank account here. Can anyone advise me of best way to do it- Is Western Union a good option? If so could someone recommend a good (English speaking) branch to send from. THX

I've used western union at the finans bank near the beyazit tram stop. (across from corlulu alipasa medresesi). no lines, nice guy who speaks pretty good english.

It depends on which bank you're with but for me (with Akbank) it's a doddle. Basically you get them to open a GBP account for you and then you can simply transfer to a UK account from the online banking system. Obviously there is a small charge (seems to work out at about 30YTL per £1000 - don't trust me on this) but for ease of use and speed (less than 2 days) it can't be beaten.

Garantibank charges 22ytl, regardless of the amount, but obviously you need to open a EURO-account and discuss the charges at the moment of opening your account so that the cost of international transfer is noted in your account settings.
Once you have done this, you can transfer from home using the internetbanking facility. I have done this many times without any problem.

Garanti are the best, have used them for years, charge 22 ytl for any amount, you need sterling account if your sending to Uk, use the english online web site, transfer and the money is in the UK account 2 days later, its very quick & easy.

Agreed, sending cash via internet banking with Garanti is very simple and definitely less expensive and less hassle than sending via Western Union. WU uses a sliding scale for charges which mount up pretty quickly unless you are sending to a QuickPay account. But, if you do still want to use WU, I sometimes use the WU at the Finansbank in Taksim diagonally across from the Divan hotel - speak English and very helpful.

I only use western Union service yet because i am not now any other best service like western union it the best way to transfer your money . Due to this i am now able to send my money to my younger brother who is in Brazil. Not every good online service will provide to transfer your money from Florida to Brazil. But Western Union is the only one service which can provide easy and fast services to any where.

For anyone that didn't quite catch that, Jenifer's using Western Union....
I use Garanti for everything. They're the best of a bad bunch I reckon