Have talked to many people and it seems it's a common thing that cheap tyres have sidewalls made of cheese.
All the second hand ones locally were not worth the price asked for them. There are much better deals to be had around Birmingham and Manchester but that's a bit far away to go just for tyres and don't have anything else to do that way so got a pair of brand new Michelin PS4 from Amazon through purse.io paying by Bitcoin. £132 for a pair of 225/45R17 for A6 delivered not too bad. They even smell better than other tyres.
Bought a bit more BTC during yesterdays dip and the price have gone up a bit today so it will make it even cheaper so might as well put in another order for pair.