For my rod I'm using a shakespear salt flattie that cost £25 quid. It's far from ideal to be honest, the action is far too sloppy. If you just fancy giving it a try any pike lure rod, or sea spinning outfit should do. Don't go for a 'Bass' rod as these are usually about 2-4 oz casting weight that is too heavy. Aim for something that casts 10 - 50grams. Carp rods are too floppy, you need to be able to twitch and jerk the lure so you need a stiffer more responsive rod.
You can get a Savage Gear Bushwacker (Pike Rod) for about 50-60 quid, 8 and a half foot. It's supposed top be a cracking rod for the price.
But proper lure rods for sea bass are mostly japenese and go from about £120 quid up to £400 for a Tenryu.
A decent metal spooled fixed spool reel of 3000 or 4000 size should do you. You want your rod and reel to be nice and light as your going to be casting over and over again. I've got a shimano syncopate which was part of a course setup I bought from aldi last summer for £20. I don't think you can buy them in this country by themselves. It's only cheap but it does it's job. I would spend at least £50 on the reel though to make sure its decent quality. I plan to upgrade both me rod and reel for next summer, can't aford it with a new baby coming in October.
Lures are the bit I've spent the most money on. Many are better at catching the angler then catching fish. Nowehere in the North East seems to have decent stock of good quality lures, just the odd few that are usually cheaper imitations of the proper stuff. I order mine online either here:
https://www.veals.co.uk/acatalog/Artificials.html
or here:
Tenryu Rods Duo Tide Lures Mr Fish Jersey
But you can find stuff on ebay etc.
They are pricey so make sure you buy suitable ones for where you intend to fish. Don't buy something that dives 4 feet if you plan on fishing a reef that is 3 foot deep and full of boulders. Few I would recommend
Angels Kiss (Veals)
Maria chase BW and SW(Veals)
Duo Tide Minnow (MrFish)
Tackle House Feed Shallow (MrFish)
Mix up you colours, darker lures are supposed to work better in darker conditions, brighter work better in bright conditions.
Of course though, Bass will take you normal quid or two spinners. So it doesn't have to cost much at all. The advantage of lures though is they float and hold position in the water, allowing you to vary the speed and put life into them over shallow ground where a normal spinner would sink and snag.
Again I sound like I know something, but I'm a total novice, have a read around, the Whitby Sea Anglers website has a lot of good info that has been really helpful:
BASS FISHING METHODS / 5 ways to catch a bass
BASS FISHING 101 | Hints Tips And Bass Facts
One thing i would say, a Bass is a very slow grower. The recommended size is 41cms, but even that is a bit low. At that size they may be 7 years old but might have only spawned once or not at all. I don't think they are abundant up here so my choice is to fish catch and release. Others can obviously make their own decisions.