Obviously one or two must have been sold in the UK, like the 8750, but I seriously don't think it was many more than that, as it came along just at 'the time' when springy belt drives began to rule. Maybe one or two of the larger Sony centres around then had them on display? Certainly Ipswich where you got it from is NOT latterly a HiFi haven for this type of gear and the Linn/Naim/Rega dealer just down the road from me used to tell me his business was almost all out of county...

Enjoy

P.S. Over the decades, I remember that Sony and other larger Jap companies like Panasonic/Technics have had some real shit amongst the prize products like this one. To stock the brand though, you had to commit to a sizeable chunk of it and this was a problem for UK specialist audio dealers, who didn't want the price-conscious stack systems and (often) tat at the bottom of their range. The smaller dealers able to sell the cheap stuff didn't know what to do about the top level products, although one or two customers may have got to hear about these and ordered blind. The Technics SP10 was different I gather, as many pro broadcast organisations like the BBC bought loads in the UK I gather from friends in the broadcast side at this time.