I was only in the NTMC twice, and in both cases, they were a long time after Roy had ceased to run it. I can only say that I thoroughly enjoyed both occasions and I felt no pressure at all to conform to anyone's idea of a folk song (except perhaps my own), that I wasn't auditioned on the stairs or anywhere else, and that musical instruments were very much in evidence. What's more, the seating arrangements of the residents had no effect on me whatsoever.

Frankly I've found many middle of the road clubs to be far less tolerant of unaccompanied traditional style singers than "traditional" clubs were of middle of the road performers. So isn't it strange that, whenever someone opened a club with a traditional policy (NTMC, Singers Club, Grey Cock or wherever), they were immediately accused of elitism, narrow mindedness and the devil only knows what, by the very people who were busily denying the value of the traditions they were seeking to adulterate.