The average cost of a night on the town in Britain is £44, a rise of £4 on the amount paid a year ago, a new study has shown.

While 71 per cent of people would be able to spend less than £50 on an evening out, eight per cent would not set off with less than £100 in their pocket, said the annual Alliance & Leicester cash usage survey.

The Scots were Britain's most committed revellers, spending £49.90 per head on average, well ahead of their counterparts in London, who came in second at £45.50 each, said the poll, carried out for Girobank, Alliance & Leicester's commercial banking arm.

The cheapest nights out in the country were to be found in the north-east of England, where a good time can be had for an average of just £37.40.

The survey also showed that, despite the growing popularity of paying by plastic, cash was far from extinct.

Karen Woods, director of sales at Girobank, said: "It is still good old notes and coins that we prefer to carry to cover our day-to-day expenses.

"With an average daily cash spend of £21.60 per adult, based on a UK over-16 population figure of 40 million, this means on average £864 million of cash is spent in the UK daily."