I think the single thing that would improve most folk clubs – or at least improve their attendance – is if they were better publicized. More specifically, better publicized online.

Example: I have been listening to folk properly for about 7 years. But I had no idea Cecil Sharp house (and the EFDSS) even existed until about 2 years ago. And that was solely because the Magpie's Nest promoters were putting on an all-day event there. (Sam Lee seems to be, in contrast to a lot of folk-club organisers, an excellent publicist.)

I go to a lot of gigs, I read the listings in Time Out and I enjoy nosing out relatively obscure venues. A lot more than other gig-goers I know. If it took me this long to discover such places then I suspect hundreds of people will *never* hear about them – people who I know would be interested.

The daft thing about the traditional folk clubs in London – Court Sessions, the Cellar Upstairs, Orpington and others – is that you have to already know of their existence to be able to find their websites. I've always assumed that the majority of folk clubs simply didn't *want* larger audiences, because if they did they would have set themselves up with myspace and facebook pages ages ago and reached out to people. After all, it's an easy enough thing to do.