Central pub, fine for first student (5)
I believe the answer is:
focal
'central' is the definition.
(similar in meaning)
'pub fine for first student' is the wordplay.
'pub fine' becomes 'foc' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'for' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'first' becomes 'a' (first letter of the alphabet).
'student' becomes 'L' (as in L-plates for learner drivers).
'foc'+'a'+'l'='FOCAL'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for focal that I've seen before include "Relating to a central point of interest" , "Relating to a centre of interest" , "sort of length" , "Things are concentrated at such a point" , "and 21 Across: Centre of attraction" .)