The UK University Town & City Social Life League Table [2017 Edition]

POSTED BY Mavy | April 10, 2017
Label: Travel Tips

social life league table

Here at Globehunters, home of the UK’s best value cheap flights, we see thousands of students booking flights each year either to head away on a work placement, to study internationally or simply to take a break!

This got us thinking! Knowing that there are thousands of international students arriving in the UK each year to study, which university town or city offers the best social life? Of course, the main decision on where to attend should always be based upon the academics, but there’s no denying the importance of a great night out every once in a while.

As such, we’re proud to launch the 2017 edition of The UK University Town & City Social Life League Table.

We’ve taken each town or city in the UK which has at least one university and have conducted research into six key areas:

Essentially, we’ve looked at six of the main things which contribute to having a great social life outside of studying and have assigned each town or city points based upon the individual rankings.

Below, you’ll see how each location ranks overall, however below you’ll find league tables for the individual areas, alongside our methodology for collecting the data.

City Student Population (Pts) Nightlife (Pts) Restaurants (Pts) Cinemas (Pts) Shopping (Pts) Theatres (Pts) Total (Pts)
1. Crewe 4 77 75 75 74 73 378
2. Cheltenham 18 72 68 76 69 67 370
3. Newport 5 67 73 71 75 75 366
4. Bolton 3 70 74 69 72 71 359
5. Bradford 2 69 71 70 70 69 351
6. Falmouth 64 71 67 74 0 74 350
7. Colchester 7 62 70 66 68 73 346
8. Wrexham 32 61 52 47 76 70 338
9. Norwich 25 68 66 57 58 61 335
10. Cirencester 21 73 76 0 77 76 323
11. Worcester 30 60 54 54 61 50 309
12. Galashiels 6 76 72 77 0 77 308
13. Hull 15 65 57 64 67 38 306
14. London 10 55 69 60 54 48 296
15. Cambridge 60 38 37 56 50 52 293
16=. Carmarthen 62 24 65 68 71 0 290
16=. Edinburgh 42 64 61 51 39 33 290
18. Swansea 19 57 59 36 46 63 280
19=. Carlisle 37 49 60 34 45 54 279
19=. Reading 8 59 63 43 64 42 279
21=. Buckingham 61 49 20 73 0 68 271
21=. Inverness 54 25 46 62 48 36 271
23. Glasgow 33 53 58 50 49 23 266
24. Bristol 36 54 48 63 27 37 265
25. Winchester 51 45 33 42 53 41 265
26. Lancaster 67 20 16 48 56 57 264
27. Liverpool 35 66 50 53 24 35 263
28. High Wycombe 17 10 36 61 66 66 256
29=. Bangor 71 50 10 27 73 24 255
29=. Chester 57 56 49 14 19 60 255
31. Derby 16 63 55 65 16 39 254
32. Northampton 14 47 64 59 26 43 253
33. York 47 35 56 41 31 40 250
34. Aberdeen 38 33 27 58 55 34 245
35. Lincoln 50 29 38 10 51 64 242
36. Plymouth 27 75 35 17 29 58 241
37. Leicester 39 41 47 52 40 17 236
38. Nottingham 58 40 29 37 37 30 231
39=. Bournemouth 40 44 51 23 59 8 225
39=. Brighton 45 58 40 18 11 53 225
41=. Bedford 26 27 41 45 22 62 223
41=. Exeter 52 40 25 26 33 47 223
43. Bath 66 30 26 25 15 55 217
44=. Dundee 43 11 19 33 65 44 215
44=. Loughborough 69 6 13 67 47 13 215
44=. Portsmouth 31 43 39 24 32 46 215
47. Leeds 24 46 42 11 62 28 213
48. Birmingham 22 19 43 49 57 22 212
49. Luton 12 42 45 29 34 49 211
50. Newcastle 55 51 30 9 36 29 210
51. Stoke 28 36 23 55 14 51 207
52. Aberystwyth 74 28 12 35 0 56 205
53. 54. Huddersfield 44 31 44 32 41 10 202
55. Guildford 34 16 17 12 63 59 201
56. Chichester 11 9 62 72 0 45 199
57=. Oxford 70 13 11 38 35 26 193
57=. Southampton 48 35 28 19 43 20 193
59. Middlesbrough 46 15 14 6 42 65 188
60. Belfast 20 22 21 46 60 18 187
61. Manchester 56 37 24 22 17 27 183
62. Wolverhampton 23 23 31 31 38 32 178
63. Cardiff 41 21 34 44 21 14 175
64. Sunderland 9 52 53 16 25 16 171
65. Stirling 68 14 15 21 30 21 169
66. Paisley 63 5 6 40 52 0 166
67=. Loughton 1 74 77 0 0 0 152
67=. Sheffield 29 32 32 30 20 9 152
69. Durham 59 7 18 8 44 12 148
70. St Andrews 72 8 8 28 0 25 141
71=. Canterbury 65 26 5 20 12 11 139
71=. Preston 13 18 22 39 28 19 139
73. Chelmsford 53 12 9 13 18 31 136
74. Hatfield 75 1 2 15 13 6 112
75. Coventry 49 4 7 7 23 15 105
76. Cranfield 77 17 1 0 0 0 95
77. Pontypridd 76 2 3 5 0 7 93
78. Ormskirk 73 3 4 0 0 0 80

 

Student Population

 

It’s important to consider how many other students you’ll be surrounded by at university and with many cities having more than one, there’s plenty of opportunities to make friends!

We took the total population of each location alongside the student population (as reported by the individual universities website’s) to work out the percentage of inhabitants who are currently studying.

City Population Student Population % Of Population Points
Cranfield 4,828 3,980 82.44 77
Pontypridd 32,700 25265 77.26 76
Hatfield 39,201 26,945 68.74 75
Aberystwyth 13,040 8,755 67.14 74
Ormskirk 24,196 15,540 64.23 73
St Andrews 16,800 10745 63.96 72
Bangor 18,808 10,765 57.24 71
Oxford 159,600 42,700 26.75 70
Loughborough 64,014 16,950 26.48 69
Stirling 45,750 11,840 25.88 68
Lancaster 52,234 13,115 25.11 67
Bath 88,859 21,908 24.65 66
Canterbury 151,200 35,725 23.63 65
Falmouth 22,300 4,655 20.87 64
Paisley 76,834 15555 20.24 63
Carmarthen 15,854 3,184 20.08 62
Buckingham 12,043 2,400 19.93 61
Cambridge 123,900 24,488 19.76 60
Durham 94,375 17,810 18.87 59
Nottingham 318,900 60045 18.83 58
Chester 81,340 14915 18.34 57
Manchester 514,414 93610 18.2 56
Newcastle 280,200 50960 18.19 55
Inverness 46,870 8415 17.95 54
Chelmsford 168,310 29,935 17.79 53
Exeter 127,300 21670 17.02 52
Winchester 45,184 7540 16.69 51
Lincoln 94,600 15,710 16.61 50
Coventry 345,385 54095 15.66 49
Southampton 236,900 36160 15.26 48
York 153,717 23135 15.05 47
Middlesbrough 138,400 18575 13.42 46
Brighton 273,369 36,290 13.28 45
Huddersfield 146,234 19270 13.18 44
Dundee 148,210 18915 12.76 43
Edinburgh 464,990 58725 12.63 42
Cardiff 346,100 43,255 12.5 41
Bournemouth 183,491 22,285 12.15 40
Leicester 329,839 38720 11.74 39
Aberdeen 228,990 26,755 11.68 38
Carlisle 75,306 8,790 11.67 37
Bristol 428,100 49,620 11.59 36
Liverpool 478,580 52735 11.02 35
Guildford 137,200 15050 10.97 34
Glasgow 606,340 66350 10.94 33
Wrexham 61,603 6660 10.81 32
Portsmouth 205,400 22060 10.74 31
Worcester 100,000 10455 10.46 30
Sheffield 569,700 59410 10.43 29
Stoke 270,726 25980 9.6 28
Plymouth 262,700 24355 9.27 27
Bedford 163,900 14,400 8.79 26
Norwich 213,166 18140 8.51 25
Leeds 751,500 61425 8.17 24
Wolverhampton 249,470 19790 7.93 23
Birmingham 1,001,200 78,225 7.81 22
Cirencester 16,325 1200 7.35 21
Belfast 672,522 49025 7.29 20
Swansea 242,400 17445 7.2 19
Cheltenham 110,013 7835 7.12 18
High Wycombe 124,475 8580 6.89 17
Derby 248,752 16,300 6.55 16
Hull 259,000 16305 6.3 15
Northampton 212,100 12985 6.12 14
Preston 420,661 24460 5.81 13
Luton 203,201 10703 5.27 12
Chichester 113,794 5520 4.85 11
London 8,674,000 410000 4.73 10
Sunderland 275,500 12995 4.72 9
Reading 318,014 14980 4.71 8
Colchester 180,420 8000 4.43 7
Galashiels 14,994 585 3.9 6
Newport 145,700 5575 3.83 5
Crewe 72,863 2000 2.74 4
Bolton 276,800 6,320 2.28 3
Bradford 522,452 11,215 2.15 2
Loughton 31,106 417 1.34 1

 

Nightlife

 

You couldn’t be a student without enjoying a good night out every once in awhile so we felt it important to work out the number of places tagged under ‘nightlife’ on TripAdvisor against the population to give us the number per 1,000 students.

City Nightlife Nightlife Per 1,000 Students Points
Crewe 25 12.5 77
Galashiels 6 10.26 76
Plymouth 185 7.6 75
Loughton 3 7.19 74
Cirencester 7 5.83 73
Cheltenham 42 5.36 72
Falmouth 20 4.3 71
Bolton 27 4.27 70
Bradford 46 4.1 69
Norwich 74 4.08 68
Newport 21 3.77 67
Liverpool 195 3.7 66
Hull 60 3.68 65
Edinburgh 211 3.59 64
Derby 58 3.56 63
Colchester 28 3.5 62
Wrexham 23 3.45 61
Worcester 36 3.44 60
Reading 51 3.4 59
Brighton 121 3.33 58
Swansea 57 3.27 57
Chester 47 3.15 56
London 1272 3.1 55
Bristol 151 3.04 54
Glasgow 200 3.01 53
Sunderland 38 2.92 52
Newcastle 134 2.63 51
Bangor 27 2.51 50
Buckingham 6 2.5 49
Carlisle 22 2.5 49
Northampton 32 2.46 47
Leeds 150 2.44 46
Winchester 18 2.39 45
Bournemouth 53 2.38 44
Portsmouth 52 2.36 43
Luton 25 2.34 42
Leicester 90 2.32 41
Exeter 50 2.31 40
Nottingham 139 2.31 40
Cambridge 55 2.25 38
Manchester 210 2.24 37
Stoke 57 2.19 36
Southampton 78 2.16 35
York 50 2.16 35
Aberdeen 55 2.06 33
Sheffield 122 2.05 32
Huddersfield 39 2.02 31
Bath 44 2.01 30
Lincoln 31 1.97 29
Aberystwyth 17 1.94 28
Bedford 28 1.94 27
Canterbury 69 1.93 26
Inverness 16 1.9 25
Carmarthen 6 1.88 24
Wolverhampton 37 1.87 23
Belfast 88 1.8 22
Cardiff 77 1.78 21
Lancaster 23 1.75 20
Birmingham 129 1.65 19
Preston 38 1.55 18
Cranfield 6 1.51 17
Guildford 20 1.33 16
Middlesbrough 24 1.29 15
Stirling 15 1.27 14
Oxford 54 1.26 13
Chelmsford 34 1.14 12
Dundee 20 1.06 11
High Wycombe 9 1.05 10
Chichester 5 0.91 9
St Andrews 9 0.84 8
Durham 14 0.79 7
Loughborough 13 0.77 6
Paisley 9 0.58 5
Coventry 30 0.55 4
Ormskirk 8 0.51 3
Pontypridd 7 0.28 2
Hatfield 7 0.26 1

 

Restaurants

 

There’s nothing better than a nice meal in great company to finish off a busy week of lectures and seminars so we worked out the number of eateries per 1,000 students based upon the figures provided by TripAdvisor.

City Restaurants Restaurants Per 1,000 Students Points
Loughton 52 124.7 77
Cirencester 96 80 76
Crewe 155 77.5 75
Bolton 412 65.19 74
Newport 347 62.24 73
Galashiels 35 59.83 72
Bradford 583 51.98 71
Colchester 377 47.13 70
London 17,924 43.72 69
Cheltenham 332 42.37 68
Falmouth 171 36.73 67
Norwich 637 35.12 66
Carmarthen 106 33.29 65
Northampton 428 32.96 64
Reading 491 32.78 63
Chichester 177 32.07 62
Edinburgh 1831 31.18 61
Carlisle 265 30.15 60
Swansea 517 29.64 59
Glasgow 1933 29.13 58
Hull 473 29.01 57
York 670 28.96 56
Derby 460 28.22 55
Worcester 283 27.07 54
Sunderland 351 27.01 53
Wrexham 178 26.73 52
Bournemouth 584 26.21 51
Liverpool 1361 25.81 50
Chester 381 25.54 49
Bristol 1250 25.19 48
Leicester 970 25.05 47
Inverness 206 24.48 46
Luton 261 24.39 45
Huddersfield 467 24.23 44
Birmingham 1892 24.19 43
Leeds 1481 24.11 42
Bedford 338 23.47 41
Brighton 836 23.04 40
Portsmouth 495 22.44 39
Lincoln 351 22.34 38
Cambridge 545 22.26 37
High Wycombe 184 21.45 36
Plymouth 519 21.31 35
Cardiff 912 21.08 34
Winchester 153 20.29 33
Sheffield 1197 20.15 32
Wolverhampton 395 19.96 31
Newcastle 1002 19.66 30
Nottingham 1169 19.47 29
Southampton 703 19.44 28
Aberdeen 519 19.4 27
Bath 422 19.26 26
Exeter 406 18.74 25
Manchester 1750 18.69 24
Stoke 469 18.05 23
Preston 423 17.29 22
Belfast 811 16.54 21
Buckingham 39 16.25 20
Dundee 297 15.7 19
Durham 256 14.37 18
Guildford 216 14.35 17
Lancaster 188 14.33 16
Stirling 168 14.19 15
Middlesbrough 239 12.87 14
Loughborough 207 12.21 13
Aberystwyth 103 11.76 12
Oxford 469 10.98 11
Bangor 110 10.22 10
Chelmsford 290 9.69 9
St Andrews 103 9.59 8
Coventry 482 8.91 7
Paisley 130 8.36 6
Canterbury 250 7 5
Ormskirk 102 6.56 4
Pontypridd 88 3.48 3
Hatfield 66 2.45 2
Cranfield 1 0.25 1

 

Cinemas

 

When it comes to seeing the latest blockbuster, it’s important to have plenty of choice to ensure there’s always a time that suits, so we worked out the number of cinemas based on data taken from Yell.com.

City Cinemas Cinemas Per 1,000 Students Points
Galashiels 1 1.71 77
Cheltenham 4 0.51 76
Crewe 1 0.5 75
Falmouth 2 0.43 74
Buckingham 1 0.42 73
Chichester 2 0.36 72
Newport 2 0.36 71
Bradford 4 0.36 70
Bolton 2 0.32 69
Carmarthen 1 0.31 68
Loughborough 5 0.29 67
Colchester 2 0.25 66
Derby 4 0.25 65
Hull 4 0.25 64
Bristol 12 0.24 63
Inverness 2 0.24 62
High Wycombe 2 0.23 61
London 95 0.23 60
Northampton 3 0.23 59
Aberdeen 6 0.22 58
Norwich 4 0.22 57
Cambridge 5 0.2 56
Stoke 5 0.19 55
Worcester 2 0.19 54
Liverpool 10 0.19 53
Leicester 7 0.18 52
Edinburgh 10 0.17 51
Glasgow 11 0.17 50
Birmingham 12 0.15 49
Lancaster 2 0.15 48
Wrexham 1 0.15 47
Belfast 7 0.14 46
Bedford 2 0.14 45
Cardiff 6 0.14 44
Reading 2 0.13 43
Winchester 1 0.13 42
York 3 0.13 41
Paisley 2 0.13 40
Preston 3 0.12 39
Oxford 5 0.12 38
Nottingham 7 0.12 37
Swansea 2 0.11 36
Aberystwyth 1 0.11 35
Carlisle 1 0.11 34
Dundee 2 0.11 33
Huddersfield 2 0.1 32
Wolverhampton 2 0.1 31
Sheffield 6 0.1 30
Luton 1 0.09 29
St Andrews 1 0.09 28
Bangor 1 0.09 27
Exeter 2 0.09 26
Bath 2 0.09 25
Portsmouth 2 0.09 24
Bournemouth 2 0.09 23
Manchester 8 0.09 22
Stirling 1 0.08 21
Canterbury 3 0.08 20
Southampton 3 0.08 19
Brighton 3 0.08 18
Plymouth 2 0.08 17
Sunderland 1 0.08 16
Hatfield 2 0.07 15
Chester 1 0.07 14
Chelmsford 2 0.07 13
Guildford 1 0.07 12
Leeds 4 0.07 11
Lincoln 1 0.06 10
Newcastle 3 0.06 9
Durham 1 0.06 8
Coventry 3 0.06 7
Middlesbrough 1 0.05 6
Pontypridd 1 0.04 5
Cirencester 0 0 0
Cranfield 0 0 0
Loughton 0 0 0
Ormskirk 0 0 0

 

Shopping Centres

 

A good shopping spree does us all the world of good, whether that’s buying essentials or treating yourself and that’s why we used a list of all UK shopping centres on Wikipedia to work out the retail therapy available in each location!

City Shopping Centres Shopping Centres Per 1,000 Students Points
Cirencester 1 0.83 77
Wrexham 5 0.75 76
Newport 3 0.54 75
Crewe 1 0.5 74
Bangor 4 0.37 73
Bolton 2 0.32 72
Carmarthen 1 0.31 71
Bradford 3 0.27 70
Cheltenham 2 0.26 69
Colchester 2 0.25 68
Hull 4 0.25 67
High Wycombe 2 0.23 66
Dundee 4 0.21 65
Reading 3 0.2 64
Guildford 3 0.2 63
Leeds 12 0.2 62
Worcester 2 0.19 61
Belfast 9 0.18 60
Bournemouth 4 0.18 59
Norwich 3 0.17 58
Birmingham 12 0.15 57
Lancaster 2 0.15 56
Aberdeen 4 0.15 55
London 56 0.14 54
Winchester 1 0.13 53
Paisley 2 0.13 52
Lincoln 2 0.13 51
Cambridge 3 0.12 50
Glasgow 8 0.12 49
Inverness 1 0.12 48
Loughborough 2 0.12 47
Swansea 2 0.11 46
Carlisle 1 0.11 45
Durham 2 0.11 44
Southampton 4 0.11 43
Middlesbrough 2 0.11 42
Huddersfield 2 0.1 41
Leicester 4 0.1 40
Edinburgh 6 0.1 39
Wolverhampton 2 0.1 38
Nottingham 6 0.1 37
Newcastle 5 0.1 36
Oxford 4 0.09 35
Luton 1 0.09 34
Exeter 2 0.09 33
Portsmouth 2 0.09 32
York 2 0.09 31
Stirling 1 0.08 30
Plymouth 2 0.08 29
Preston 2 0.08 28
Bristol 4 0.08 27
Northampton 1 0.08 26
Sunderland 1 0.08 25
Liverpool 4 0.08 24
Coventry 4 0.07 23
Bedford 1 0.07 22
Cardiff 3 0.07 21
Sheffield 4 0.07 20
Chester 1 0.07 19
Chelmsford 2 0.07 18
Manchester 6 0.06 17
Derby 1 0.06 16
Bath 1 0.05 15
Stoke 1 0.04 14
Hatfield 1 0.04 13
Canterbury 1 0.03 12
Brighton 1 0.03 11
Aberystwyth 0 0 0
Buckingham 0 0 0
Chichester 0 0 0
Cranfield 0 0 0
Falmouth 0 0 0
Galashiels 0 0 0
Loughton 0 0 0
Ormskirk 0 0 0
Pontypridd 0 0 0
St Andrews 0 0 0

 

 

Theatres

 

Last but not least, we feel that every student needs a bit of culture in their life from time to time (aside from that found in the library amongst mountains of books) so we worked out the number of theatres per 1,000 students for each location based upon TripAdvisor data.

City Theatres Theatres Per 1,000 Students Points
Galashiels 1 1.71 77
Cirencester 2 1.67 76
Newport 4 0.72 75
Falmouth 3 0.64 74
Colchester 4 0.5 73
Crewe 1 0.5 73
Bolton 3 0.47 71
Wrexham 3 0.45 70
Bradford 5 0.45 69
Buckingham 1 0.42 68
Cheltenham 3 0.38 67
High Wycombe 3 0.35 66
Middlesbrough 6 0.32 65
Lincoln 5 0.32 64
Swansea 5 0.29 63
Bedford 4 0.28 62
Norwich 5 0.28 61
Chester 4 0.27 60
Guildford 4 0.27 59
Plymouth 6 0.25 58
Lancaster 3 0.23 57
Aberystwyth 2 0.23 56
Bath 5 0.23 55
Carlisle 2 0.23 54
Brighton 8 0.22 53
Cambridge 5 0.2 52
Stoke 5 0.19 51
Worcester 2 0.19 50
Luton 2 0.19 49
London 76 0.19 48
Exeter 4 0.18 47
Portsmouth 4 0.18 46
Chichester 1 0.18 45
Dundee 3 0.16 44
Northampton 2 0.15 43
Reading 2 0.13 42
Winchester 1 0.13 41
York 3 0.13 40
Derby 2 0.12 39
Hull 2 0.12 38
Bristol 6 0.12 37
Inverness 1 0.12 36
Liverpool 6 0.11 35
Aberdeen 3 0.11 34
Edinburgh 6 0.1 33
Wolverhampton 2 0.1 32
Chelmsford 3 0.1 31
Nottingham 6 0.1 30
Newcastle 5 0.1 29
Leeds 6 0.1 28
Manchester 9 0.1 27
Oxford 4 0.09 26
St Andrews 1 0.09 25
Bangor 1 0.09 24
Glasgow 6 0.09 23
Birmingham 7 0.09 22
Stirling 1 0.08 21
Southampton 3 0.08 20
Preston 2 0.08 19
Belfast 4 0.08 18
Leicester 3 0.08 17
Sunderland 1 0.08 16
Coventry 4 0.07 15
Cardiff 3 0.07 14
Loughborough 1 0.06 13
Durham 1 0.06 12
Canterbury 2 0.06 11
Huddersfield 1 0.05 10
Sheffield 3 0.05 9
Bournemouth 1 0.04 8
Pontypridd 1 0.04 7
Hatfield 1 0.04 6
Carmarthen 0 0 0
Cranfield 0 0 0
Loughton 0 0 0
Ormskirk 0 0 0
Paisley 0 0 0

 

So there you go. A detailed look at the best university towns and cities in the UK based upon the potential for a great social life.

We were certainly surprised at some of the results, however it’s great to see that, when it comes to looking at those factors which contribute to having a social life better than other cities (and let’s face it; none of us want to spend 30 minutes queuing at the bar because it’s too crowded), it’s not the cities you’d expect which come out top.

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