1% is probably about as low as you'll get (which is at least a lot better than many of our American cousins pay - apparently 6% is common in New York!).
However (if you're able to handle the viewings yourself) you can pay FAR less by using an online service. (Typically £300 + VAT = £360 in total). Those services put your property on the major home-buying websites which is (in reality) all that High Street estate agents do anyway.
If the property is close to others which are for sale (so that people viewing them will see yours as well), or otherwise located where lots of people will see it, you don't even need any form of agency. I sold my father's house by simply designing a 'For Sale' poster on my computer. I took it to a copy shop to have it enlarged and two copies printed on fluorescent paper. One copy went in the front window of the house, with the other in a side window (but still facing onto the street). I sold the house very quickly, for a couple of quid!
Chris