The trouble is tha there's a worry people have that, if they draw attention to places where there have been no trouble with sessions, in this context, that might serve to provoke the bureaucrats into cracking down on them.

There is a real problem in knowing whether sessions are tolerated because the council isn't aware of them, or because there has been a decision by the council not to be repressive and stupid. And a suspicion that, in many cases, it is the former.

I gather there is a suspicion that the council interference that led to the session of English tunes in Waltham Abbey at the Welsh Harp being stopped may have been the result of a complaint by a rival publican who thought that people might be going to the Harp instead of another poub to hear the music.

What would be helpful would be to have some feedback from sympathetic people who have been involved in this from the other end, councillors or council employees. And aboive all, examples of any councils where a formal decision has been made to recognise that these kind of sessions should not normally necessitate a PEL.

(This thread is a spin-off from others, such as Subject: IMPORTANT -ATTENTION ALL MUDCATTERS)