Dear Mr Blues=Life clearly like Mr Banjoist you have never lived in the UK.

Often the Pub next door is exactly that! When they have a late night, Football, Christmas etc then as the neighbor you are a participant willing or no!

To be fair to the LAs in the UK rarely do they act except where there is complaint or serious fire/safety concern.

There may be cases where there is mixed reaction to inhouse giging, in fact in the USA one rarely - nearly never in my experience over 10 states - sees a spontaneous session like the UK. Indeed the opposite is the rule, the USA tends towards organised often badly attended jams where most of the audience are friends of the participants. In the UK one would not go to a Rugby house for a folk evening, nor to a Darts mecca for a Trad one.

The sessions I recall were hoots with crowds too big for the small bars where we would end up. They had the option to be fun, to be spontaneous, to play or do whatever one wanted to. Often I recall with great joy a friend who played a Tea Chest with Broom and String attached for a Bass! These were meetings of work weary people who simply needed to let off steam after a hard week. In the post war years skiffle and jazz were often played, indeed folk mostly took back seat to the louder stomping of other jams.