london has the best night life hands down.
manchester and newcastle are very good too.
nightlife is very very very important and should be there near the top of your needs, if not the top. Having an amazing time (if amazing is a great nightlife) is the main purpose of uni. Sex, drugs, 5am parties, munchies, lazers, underground, overground - get the whole lot in and your uni experience is complete. ignore the basic student life and you have lost a big chunk of your life reading books that wont make a difference in a few years time - cambridge or grimsby college - who cares, enjoy ourself, get a degree, and you will be in the same boat as everyone else but with more stories to tell (cultural capatal ahoy!)