Sidewinder, the problem with the Phoenix Nights folk band (which was nevertheless hilarious) is that it was pretty much the equivalent of the Fast Show's Jazz Club (though once again hilarious). It's a broad-brush caricature, which raises concerns - this must be how the general public views groups of musical enthusiasts - exclusive, backward and a bit ga-ga.

Otherwise, I'm with most of the writers on this thread - the folk scene isn't dead, it's just changed its clothes (and venues). Folk clubs themselves were the successors to EFDSS tea dances, and aren't we lucky for that? I first came into contact with the folk scene in the early 1980s, and it has to be said there seem to be far more young people involved now than there were then, though the preferred venues for traditionalists seem to have shifted to festivals and sessions.

And maybe what used to be called "contemporary" clubs have shape-shifted into "buskers' nights"?

Jude