Students in university towns are not staying out as late or drinking as much as they used to because of the high cost of living and a better work ethic, the boss of City Pub Group has said.

Clive Watson, chief executive at the company, which runs more than 50 pubs across Britain, said students were coming home earlier from nights out. 

He said: “Students work a lot harder than they [did] at university in my day… they have a better work ethic, plus they’re having to pay for a lot of it themselves.”

Mr Watson said partly this was due to young people worrying more about their health and the high cost of living.

He said: “They don’t want to catch Ubers or necessarily [pay for] higher price drinks at two o’clock in the morning.

“If you can have fun in the pub up until midnight, they don’t need to go off to a late night bar and carry on the fun. I think they’re having that fun earlier in the evening, they’ve brought their clock back.”