Why is coffee so bitter in the UK?

Premise: I'm Italian, and I have been living in the UK for a while. You know how the stereotype goes... Italians are picky about food, everything is worse outside of Italy and so on. Nothing of this sort here. I have a genuine question, possibly for baristas/people in the food industry: why is the UK's standard coffee ground - from Nero to the local small-organic-single-origin-hand-grounded shop - so heavily roasted, aka "bitter"? The meter of comparison here is Italy's standard grounds, such as Lavazza's usual lines of products. The explanation I gave myself is that to maintain a strong coffe flavour in the latte/cappuccino/flat-white, a bitter blend must be used. And since these are the UK's most commonly ordered coffee drinks, coffee shops naturally target this market more. Hence the strong bitterness. EDIT: thanks all for the answers. Some comments were very interesting and insightful. EDIT 2: As a note if you read the thread/want to contribute, I want to specify further that I am not looking for a good coffee place (I have already found what I like), nor I am asking a question of "taste" (good/bad coffee). Taste is subjective. But coffee in the UK is usually much more bitter than in Italy, and the question is why, from a technical (commercial, marketing, local taste targeting, lack of skill, lack of machinery, sourcing, costs) point of view.