You said round the corner that you're interested in aircraft design (good on you, so am I). This actually eliminates a few courses. If you look at Bristol or Imperial for example, the courses are in large part aimed at producing technical staff to work as small cogs in big teams - important well paid jobs, but not really the design of whole aeroplanes.
If you're interested in whole aeroplane stuff, look at the slightly less highbrow redbrick courses (Southampton, Bath, Glasgow for example) or the two superb ex-poly's Kingston and Hatfield.
Others have commented on living conditions, and I agree with them. But also, look at the 2nd to 4th year options on the various courses, look for whole aeroplane (aerospace vehicle design, helicopter dynamics, flight dynamics, aircraft systems design) courses rather than "backroom" courses like supersonic aerodynamics, combustion thermodynamics, etc. I'm not putting those courses down, the industry will always have well paid jobs for good aerodynamicists and thermodynamicists, but if you want to work on whole aeroplanes - whether as a pilot or engineer, look for whole aeroplane courses.
G