BOURNEMOUTH has wiped the floor with Oxford and Cambridge in the alternative university league tables.

But the new tables rank on pint price, takeaway options and gig prices rather than the more traditional measures of student-staff ratio and career prospects.

Regular tables see top-flight Russell Group universities beat off competition from higher education establishments across the UK.

But the new table, compiled by ticket comparison site TickX, has turned things around.

And Bournemouth has come second in the UK, beaten only by Leicester.

TickX uses the rental price of halls, pint price, pubs per square mile, ticket price, gig price and student event price to rate universities.

It also considers the number of Deliveroo options, as well as sustainability.

Bournemouth was found to be one of the cheapest in terms of rent, drinks prices and tickets and was also found to be the fifth most sustainable university.

The average pint price was given as £2.97, with six pubs per square mile, club tickets at an average of £3.84 and gig prices at £5.97. There are 61 Deliveroo options and it costs roughly £6.30 for a student event.

A spokesman for TickX said: "Bournemouth’s prime beach-side location puts the rent up slightly more than Leicester’s at an average of £428 a month for halls, which leaves them on the expensive side of the scale, but you’re sure to make that money back when it comes to spending on your student nights out.

"Bournemouth University comes in at third cheapest for a pint at just £2.97, where the cheapest is only £2.80. You won’t have to go far for a bevvy either, with six pubs per square mile.

"They fall roughly in the centre of the league for cheapest club tickets at £3.84 on average, followed by £5.97 for gigs and £6.30 on average for student events – all cheaper than Leicester.

"Letting them down though are the number of Deliveroo options available near the uni, at just 61, so you may find yourself having to organise your own hangover food.

"But all is made up in terms of sustainability, where Bournemouth came out fifth with a score of 65.7 per cent."