How expensive is your night out? Our experts rank the cheapest vs dearest cities for student nights

The secret to a memorable night out consists of good music, good vibes and great times. However, if there’s one thing Thanos was right about, it’s that life is about balance – the bank balance, specifically. Nights out can be a hit to both your physical and financial health, so it’s important to stay switched on when it comes to your budget.

Here at UniHomes, we’ve crunched the numbers on the average costs for going on a night out across the UK.  The research was based on the cost per city, which includes taxis, night food, ticket and drink prices. This was then combined to find the total night out cost on a weekly, monthly, and even yearly basis. Without further ado, allow us to present our findings...

Manchester is the cheapest city for a student night out

That’s right. The home of the 24-hour party people is, perhaps unsurprisingly, the cheapest city to go out in as a student, with our research indicating that nights out would cost £173 per month and a decent £2,079 a year. This is based on one night out per week and a night out each week of the year. Next up was Newcastle, with a weekly cost of £49, a monthly cost of £195 and a yearly cost of £2,343.

Other cities with a reasonably priced night out include Liverpool (£206 per month, £2467 per year) and Bristol (£65 per week, £258 per month and £3,101 per year). 

Now for – the most expensive nights out for students

To have an enjoyable night on a budget in these cities, you may need to get creative with your plans and strategies for the night. 

As you have probably guessed, the most expensive city to go on a night out in as a student, is… drum roll… London. With a hefty cost of £91 per week, £365 per month and an astronomical £4,375 on a yearly basis, we’d recommend saving up! It’s a whopping £684.96 more expensive than the next most expensive city for a student night out as well. The yearly cost of a weekly night out in London – even focusing on the cheaper student-oriented nights – could instead be spent on 2,296 big macs, noted by several major financial institutions as “better value for money, but one hell of a weight gain”. 

That said, you do get what you pay for in the capital – London’s extensive range of choice for nights out confronts you with a staggering and incredible range of different nights out on the table. Islington, Brixton, Camden, Angel, Dalston, Putney, and Soho are just a few of the many, many vibrant and interesting districts the capital has to offer. As long as you’re thinking ahead, you’ll have no problem getting bang for your buck in the Big Smoke.

The second most expensive student night out, is Coventry. The Warwickshire city is next on our list, with weekly costs of £77, monthly costs of £308 and yearly costs of £3,690. We’d also caution the students of this world to dig deep in preparation for a night out in Northampton, where a weekly cost of £72, a monthly cost of £288 per month and a yearly cost £3,456 is typical. 

Come prepared with a decent stack of skrilla if you’re planning a night out in Belfast or Southampton, too. The former costs around £67 per week, £269 per month and £3,225 per year, while the latter costs £66 per week, £263 per month and £3,153 per year.

The breakdown

Much like cutting shapes on a banging dancefloor, it’s time to break it down. We analysed exactly how the costs of the night out are split out and distributed across the various key elements of a typical night out. Our cheapest candidate city, Manchester, came out with a total cost of £40, including night food (£7) taxi (£21.8), nightclub (£3) and drink cost (£8). Newcastle Upon Tyne was not too far behind with a total cost of £48, taking into account night food (£8), taxi (£19.60), nightclub (£4) and drink cost (£8).

After you’ve lived your best life on the dance floor, it's understandable that you may start to get a little peckish. Other than Glasgow, Leeds and Sheffield are the perfect places to go to satisfy those midnight cravings with night food at just £5 apiece. However, if you’re in search of cities with the cheapest entry ticket prices, we can’t recommend Leicester highly enough – the city with the most free-entry-as-standard club nights on offer, at the time of writing. You heard that right - you don’t have to pay a single penny to enjoy your night out! Birmingham also had one of the cheapest ticket entry costs, at a measly £3. 

Unsurprisingly, London without a doubt tops the list for the most expensive city to go on a night out with a cost of £76 per night - double that for a night out in Manchester (£38). This total includes night food (£11) taxi (£30.2) nightclub entry (£16.8) and drink cost (£17.5). Coventry had the second most expensive student night out with a total cost of £67 per night out which included night food (£10.99) taxi (£26.64) nightclub (£16.75) and drink cost (£12.5). Northampton came in third place with a total of £61 per night out when considering night food (£16.99), taxi (£22.04), nightclub (£5) and drink cost (£17). 

When it comes to taxi prices, Southampton (£26.78), Edinburgh (£25.72) and Brighton (£24.72) were also up there for being the most expensive, especially when compared to Liverpool (£17.5) and Leeds (£17.1) who had the most affordable taxi fares overall. However, although London may be the hub of some of the most expensive nightclubs, when it comes to the cost of drinks Leeds (£20), Belfast (£19) and Leicester (£18) were the most expensive places to grab a pint. 

In conclusion…

Nights out can be incredibly fun, whether you’re living in one of our cheaper cities or more expensive ones. You’ll also now be armed with the knowledge of what to expect, costs-wise, before you head on out. When it comes to effective budgeting, there’s no more valuable ally than knowledge and information. The most important thing to remember on a night out, however, is to know your limits, look out for each other, and stay safe!