Yeagh I suppose we are lucky in that the open mic is in a room that we the club hire and it is non-licensed. Though you can take your own drink in. So everyone that goes is going specifically to play or listen to the music.

Kind of smiling at the idea of a small town being 30,000 people. I'm in the rural Scottish Borders so that would be a big place for us. Kelso has only 6,000 and the entire region has only just above 100,000 people with the biggest towns being only about 17,000. Always find it fascinating how people from different places view things. I hear a Londoner once describe Norwich as being in the sticks and it is a pretty big place :-)