Well, it's true that some people do tend to define the term Folk Club according their own experience, but this is not always sufficient when looking at the national picture.

I have 69 events listed who call themselves "Folk Clubs" who never book a guest, and there are over 100 more who use the term but only have a very occasional booking.

There are also a LOT of singaround / song/tune/mixed sessions which would put their hands up to 'Folk' but not perhaps "Club.' That doesn't stop others thinking of them as FCs though.

I've also got about 30 which are purely Concert venues (no floor singers), but do have a committee and a raffle, and do advertise alongside folk clubs. Not all of them use the term Folk Club, but most would be included in any list of the same.

The ones in between vary enormously, with guests anything from once every two months to one every week. And these may be local heroes only, or just big names, or any other combination.

In some you'll mainly hear trad and/or trad-informed (specially in Scotland), in others you'll hear mainly Americana and acoustic pop.

It's a very VERY diverse picture - and all legit in my opinion

Tom