The last newsletter I got from the Black Swan in York suggests that Harrogate's problems are not unique - it's a circulated newsletter so I'm sure Roland won't mind me quoting it -

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3.    SAD NEWS FROM DRIFFIELD. Word reaches us that Driffield Live has had to halt operations "due to disappointing turnouts for recent concerts". In its heyday, not so very long ago, Driffield was a flourishing venue for folk music, but it seems audiences can be fickle. Although it met on Thursdays and could have been seen as competition for the Black Swan, I never viewed things that way. The more live music the better, I say, and it is a huge pity when any venue has to close.

4.    THE BLACK SWAN NOT IMMUNE.   Let's have no complacency here. The Black Swan FC has had a poor summer itself, with audience numbers often in teens and twenties (even in single figures one week) when they should have been in the thirties or forties. Even well-attended nights have often failed to reach completely full house level. With the high standard of the acts we've had on offer, this is very dispiriting. So far this year, the average paying audience is 4 down per week, compared with the year before, which was in turn down on the year before that.

The upshot is that we have been loosing money and eating into our modest cash reserves. Over the summer quarter (June, July, August), we were down almost £600! Losses would be even worse had not some guests kindly offered to waive a part of their agreed fee. We cannot afford to go on for long at this rate of loss, nor can we assume that surpluses on the NCEM concert programme will save the day.

Club fortunes are normally cyclical and I am ever optimistic that things will pick up. However, as a precaution I am not making any more bookings beyond June next year, though I will fill the gaps in the diary between now and then.   There are 450 of you on the e-mail list: just one more club visit each per year would make all the difference! Support your local folk club or lose it!

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Sad to see so many places struggling.