Since English pubs began in the 7th Century, we've been having sessions in pubs. It's the basis of English vernacular musical culture, and therefore very important to us.

I'm not sure I'm too happy with the apparent puritan streak in this thread. Pubs - and especially village pubs, the centre of most English rural life - are (sadly) closing because :-

(a) Perfectly reasonable drink/drive laws mean that people can't go out to drink in the same way they use to.

(b) The availability of very cheap alcohol from other sources means that it is relatively expensive to drink in pubs.

(c) A well intentioned but silly law passed 10-15 years ago limited the number of pubs a brewery could own, leading (unexpectedly) to mass sell-offs of "tied" houses and their concomitant closure and conversion to private dwellings.

All this has been going on for 20 years or more now (in fact the evidence is that it's beginning to slow down).

The salt of the earth in English village society continue to meet in pubs (though they go there less often and for less of the time). As I see it (and as I practise it) our folk sessions are usually held in these places beause - actually - we want our folk activities to be community activities rather than just the preserve of a few people who are "interested".

It's much less a matter of choosing to do your music in a nice clean smoke and drink free environment than doing it where it should be done - in the centre of your community.

:-(