This could be a moan from 2012. Since this forum was opened, posters have said it was better in the old days. Pick a year - it was better 10 years ago. (Like fusion power in reverse)
It certainly wasn't always better in the old days. As someone old enough to remember what punting was like pre-internet, I would definitely not say things were better then. When all you had to go on was small ads, contact magazines and phone box cards. And of course almost all the SPs were British, as this was before we joined the EU. I still have a couple of those old contact mags from those days, and you flip from page to page thinking you wouldn't touch any of them with a bargepole.
What followed was a decade or so, from the early 2000s to the mid 2010s, when London was the place to be for both SPs and punters. The affluence of the place was drawing in SPs from all over, but in particular from the EU. I look at the lineup in the likes of Diva now, and there is no comparison with the lineup of Polish and Thai beauties that I was seeing regularly back then. Admittedly the roster is considerably larger than it was in those days, but the quality is generally far lower (unless you are into sullen trout-lipped waifs). The constant influx of girls kept prices relatively static for most of that decade, although I recall that the base £150 did creep up to £180 for the top flight girls. But that was the all-inclusive price, there was no charging extra for anything back then, not even for anal.
I have just had a pleasant half hour or so looking back at some of my punting records from those days, bringing back pleasant memories of that glorious decade. If any of those girls were to reappear, I would be there like a shot, they eclipse any of today's offerings hands down. I can well understand why the OP is sorely disappointed by the current London scene in comparison.
Yes, you can still get a good punt in London now. But you have to put in a lot more work, do a lot more research, and pay significantly more (particularly after all the extras are added on), with much less certainty of a good outcome.