Back in the game

[cliff]

'allo!
Some of you might remember me from years back. I've been off bikes for a while (had a bandit for 6 months about 3 years ago, before that had a firestorm and a hornet) so I'm not a new rider as such, but I've been out of the loop for some time now.
I'm living in south london and looking to buy something to get me to work every day 10 miles away in Walthamstow, also occasionally whizzing down to Kent to see the in-laws, or Surrey to see my parents, so need something that can chew up some miles on the A3 or the M20 reasonably well.
Got £3000 as the upper limit to spend, obviously needs to be ULEZ compliant and most of all, reliable (so almost certainly Japanese)
Any reccomendations would be much appreciated as I'm at a bit of a loss.
Been looking at the R3 but wonder if it will be a bit underpowered, how similiar are these new range of 300's to the 90s 400s?
My favourite ever bike was my 94 ZXR400 and I'm wondering if ill be dissapointed by this new breed.
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Sweet reggae music.