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Nights Out and your Household Budget

Nights out include expenses incurred on dinner, alcohol, night bus, entry fees, and taxis.

Nights out in detail

In the UK, nights out expenses vary by city. In June 2014, TripAdvisor had conducted a survey indicating which cities are the most expensive for a night out. The survey also includes the cost of a hotel, but we will only look at the other items in the survey, viz., food, cocktails, and taxi.

Least expensive places for nights out

According to the survey, Sheffield is the least expensive place for a night out. A dinner for two will cost £63.73, and a couple of cocktails will cost around £13.20. A return taxi trip costs £7.64. In total, an average night out will cost around £84.50. Along with Sheffield, the top 5 least expensive locations are Birmingham, Cardiff, Newcastle, and Bristol.

Most expensive places for nights out

Edinburgh is the most expensive city for a night out. The average of cost of a dinner for two is around £70, and two dry martinis will cost £15.78. Including taxi expense of £12.14, the average night out in Edinburgh will cost around £98. The list of top 5 expensive cities includes Cambridge, London, Oxford, and Bath.

Popular drinks in the UK

  • Beer
  • Cider
  • Wine
  • Liqueurs
  • Spirits (vodka, gin, whiskey, rum, tequila, and Sambuca)

Example:

Let's say you live in Newcastle, and you want to visit a pub in Diamond Strip. You will get several options such as Fat Buddha, The Cut, Livello, Revolution Bar, and Tup Palace among others.

Fat Buddha is an Asian bar and kitchen. Cocktails such as a frozen margarita or a long island ice tea will cost £5.25 to 6.25. The rates are in a similar range for its speciality drinks and mojitos and daiquiris. Premium drinks such as Gin Cosmopolitan will cost £7.95, and a luxury mojito will cost £9.95. Shooters will cost anywhere between £2 to 4. Bottled beers such as Budweiser, Peroni, Tiger Bottle, and Asahi will cost £3 to £4.25 each. A bottle of cider will cost £4.50.

Soups such as royal sweet corn soup, Chinese hot and sour soup, Thai Tom Yam Prawn soup will cost £3.20 to £4.70. Starters can cost anywhere from £4.80 to £19.90 (crispy aromatic duck). For food, the restaurant serves different cuisines such as Hong Kong, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Malaysian, and Thai. Hong Kong dishes cost in the range of £10.80 to £11.80, Chinese ranges from £11.90 to £14.80, and Japanese food costs between £12.50 to 15.80. A return taxi fare in Newcastle can cost around £12.

Night outs as part of the household budget

As you can see, an average night out for two can cost anywhere between £80 to 100. At times, the spending on alcohol during night outs can hamper your monthly finances. You should try to get the best deals during night outs. Sites such as Groupon, Wowcher or LivingSocial can be of help to get discounted deals.

Use our household budget calculator to see how nights out affect your household budget.