Night out Sheffield: Study claims Sheffield is 'one of the worst nights out in the UK' - The Star disagrees

A company set up to promote online casinos labelled Sheffield “one of the worst nights out in the UK” this week - The Star would like a word.

The PR team for BonusFinder.co.uk - a website “dedicated” to finding online slots more customers - emailed me this week hoping I’d be interested to hear how “Sheffield is one of the WORST cities for a night out in the UK!”

This spurious ranking placed the Steel City in tenth place behind Oxford and Leicester based on figures from out of the thin air, like the number of pubs, bars, hotels and - ahem - casinos per 10k people.

Nothing says Fun At Parties like boiling a city down to its numbers to prove how bad your last Friday night was.

The office threw some stats around to back up its claim. “Sheffield ranks in tenth place amongst the worst cities for a night out in the UK,” the email declared. “Scoring 7.34 out of 10 [whatever that means, who cares] and situated in South Yorkshire, Sheffield is known for its drum ‘n bass scene.

“The city earned its lower ranking primarily due to its limited offerings of bars and clubs, boasting a mere 1.87 venues per 10,000 residents. Additionally, Sheffield falls short in terms of accommodation options, with only 2.95 hotels available per 10,000 residents.”

We also have cheap hotels (£77), cheap-ish pints (£4.20), about four pubs per 10,000 people and - oh dear - only one casino per 100,000.

London came first place as the worst in the UK. I can’t disprove that, hellscape that it is with its £7 pints and £50 taxi rides home if you miss the tube.

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No, I don’t even need to defend Sheffield to call the ranking a crock of nonsense, because it placed Bristol - the mecca of heavy weekends, cheaper than London and home to Time Out 2024’s best club in Britain, The Island - as the second worst on the list. Perhaps it was to do with Brizzle’s pitiful 0.02 casinos per 10,000 people, the poor sods.

By the way, Doncaster placed third on BonusFinder’s list of best nights out in the UK. Apparently the pints are £3.75 on average and the hotel prices are rock bottom. I invite you to do Sheffield and Doncaster and send me your thoughts.

But I’m here for Sheffield. Sure, we don’t have a superclub, half the city centre looks like a building site right now and the O2 Academy is still closed for, shall we say, concrete reasons.

But tenth worst in the UK? With Northampton in 21st place for best? Give over.

If your faith is shaken, consider a night on the town in the Steel City some day soon. Take in a show at the Crucible then cross the road to watch another at the Lyceum, or do back to back viewings at our independent cinemas. Give an up-and-coming artist a go at Sydney & Matilda, or an already-here band at cultural-touchstone The Leadmill, or even a chart-topping sensation at the Utilita Arena before enjoying the tram ride to the next stop on your night.

If instead you saw some leading UK comedian at City Hall, step outside and walk from one end of pedestrianised Division Street to the other to find your home in any number of pubs along the way.

When you’re ready to kick things from ‘out’ into ‘out-out’, you’ll see West Street right over there without even squinting. Head to West Street Live or Molly Malones for live music, or Stein Haus to see the bouncers try to contain the crowd from dancing on the benches. Half our bars are right next door to one another, so when you’re ready for a change of scenery the walk is about 20 metres tops.

And - take this one from BonusFinder themselves! - when all is said and done, crash out at some city centre hotel where the average price is reportedly only £77. That would have been £200+ in London. Maybe in a few short months time you might even be staying at our new Raddison Blu overlooking the Peace Gardens.