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Student News

London no longer has the most expensive pints in the UK

London's beer prices are often used as the punchline to jokes, but a new study has revealed that the city no longer has the country's most expensive pints.

UK pint prices

Surrey has overtaken London as the most expensive place in the UK to buy a pint of beer, according to research by the Good Pub Guide.

London is, for the first time in history, no longer the capital of booze prices, with Surrey now top of the pops thanks to an eye-watering price tag of £4.40 per pint. By comparison, London's pints are a bargain £4.20. Nonetheless, students in both regions will need to start budgeting!

Across the country pint prices have risen by 13p in the past year, taking the average cost to £3.60 – a hefty increase given that last year it only rose by 1p.

Pub-goers in Yorkshire and Herefordshire have the joint-cheapest pints in the UK, tied on £3.31. However, even this is 10p more than it was in 2016. So no matter where you study, you should check out our ways to save money on a night out!

The other winners and losers

Your SU will almost certainly sell pints at a cut price, so in some respects the average cost for your region doesn't really have to affect you. But for those times when you fancy venturing out a little bit, it's good to know what to expect from the bill at your local.

After London and Surrey, Sussex's student population will be feeling the biggest pinch – but at £3.82 per pint (almost 60p less than Surrey, and nearly 40p less than London), they'll be forking out a lot less than some of their southern neighbours.

A recent survey included the cost of a pint when ranking UK unis for their value for money. See how your uni fared!

Interestingly, while the majority of the most expensive pints are to be found in the south of England, there is one notable exception – the Scottish Islands. Go for a cold one with the boys (or girls) there, and you'll be stumping up £3.80 a go. Maybe you're paying for the views.

If you're a student in the Midlands or the north of England, the survey makes easy reading. The majority of the bargain beer is found north of the Watford Gap, with Shropshire (£3.33), Derbyshire (£3.36) and Cumbria and Worcestershire (both £3.38) joining Yorkshire and Herefordshire in the list of the top five (well, six) places to grab a cheap pint.

The full list of UK pint prices

"How does the average price of a pint in my town compare to the rest of the country?", we hear you cry. Worry not, as we've put the full results into a handy (and searchable!) table for you:

RegionPint price
Surrey£4.40
London£4.20
Sussex£3.82
Hertfordshire£3.81
Scottish Islands£3.80
Berkshire£3.78
Kent£3.78
Buckinghamshire£3.75
Oxfordshire£3.74
Isle of Wight£3.73
Scotland£3.67
Cheshire£3.66
Norfolk£3.66
Hampshire£3.65
Bedfordshire£3.64
Nottinghamshire£3.64
Essex£3.62
Warwickshire£3.62
Cambridgeshire£3.61
Suffolk£3.61
Gloucestershire£3.60
Cornwall£3.55
Lincolnshire£3.55
Wiltshire£3.55
Devon£3.51
Dorset£3.51
Somerset£3.51
Lancashire£3.50
Northamptonshire£3.48
Staffordshire£3.48
Leicestershire£3.47
Wales£3.42
Northumbria£3.40
Cumbria£3.38
Worcestershire£3.38
Derbyshire£3.36
Shropshire£3.33
Herefordshire£3.31
Yorkshire£3.31

Can't afford to go out for a boozy night? Get some drink in and try one of the drinking games that every student should know.

Tom Allingham

WRITTEN BY Tom Allingham

Tom joined Save the Student in 2017, initially heading up the editorial team before becoming Communications Director. He has appeared as a Student Finance expert on a range of TV and radio stations including the BBC, ITV and Sky, sharing his top tips for saving money and cutting student bills.
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