Bike question

I'm going to buy my first bike and am very excited but am wanting to really get a starter/general bike and then after my first tri invest in a tri bike. I've been looking around London - at Evans, Action, triandrun as well as a few others...but today I was in Halfords for something and was looking at their bikes wondering if for my purposes one of those would do fine. The one I looked at was a women's specific hybrid - Apollo CX.10s but I can't really find any reviews for it. The Halford's in Kingston seemed very knowledgeable and does do service...I'm just trying to get some opinions. Any advice? Thanks!