I've been using a bench jack with my new bench, while less in the way than a sliding deadman it's still more hassle than I like. Kinda on the back burner has been the thought of adding an English style apron but always other things were higher on the list and it would be a pain to glue up the boards to make an apron that was deep enough to add utility. Long story shorter, I found an 8' almost 400mm wide hunk of 8/4 Beech the other day. That takes care of the glue up hassle, I have no excuse not to try it. Anyway I clamped the apron board to the bench this afternoon to see if there were any reasons to not add an apron or problems I've overlooked. BTW, that is one heavy mother to wrestle around by yourself. If I decide to go for it, I'll cut 300 or so mm off the end which should make it a little easier to handle.
The only negatives that are apparent are; it will restrict the use of dogs and limit seeing what is under the bench from the front. The dogs are not a problem because I seldom use 'em and when I do they are usually the plastic lipped ones.
Here's a photo of the apron board clamped to the bench. If I'm overlooking something, please speak up.