with food and decent drink and with decor and furniture a whole lot more congenial than the average filthy pub back room

Are the pubs you go to really like this? If this is a city we're talking about, most tatty pubs that don't keep a reasonable pint have long since gone to the wall, and good riddance to them. If you're spending most of your time in those sort of pubs, maybe you want to move your folk club. ;)

Re the style of the folk club, it depends what you want. Sure, you're not going to attract record numbers with a round-the-room with some less-than-stellar players/singers, and nor are you going to get anyone who doesn't already like folk. But consider people who *do* like folk and want somewhere to play in public for the first time after spending 6 months in their bedroom with the first couple of Russ Shipton books. Are they more likely to take that big first step in a round-the-room in a pub, or are they more likely to do it in an Arts Centre in front of a hundred people? Sure, you're likely to get a much higher quality of performance (and venue) at the Arts Centre, but without the session in the pub you're not going to get any new people to perform at the Arts Centre.

Graham.