Scrump - I think your points are well made, but I'm not sure you can generalise because there are too many variables involved. Living in the North East I am very lucky - there are many well run clubs within easy travelling distance - so many that I haven't got time to go to as many as I would like.

Amongst the ones I would highlight as offering a great experience to their members (and everyone else who comes) the format goes from a little intimate singaround room where, when a guest is booked, they simply sing three or four extended 'floor spots' through out the evening to a concert club where there is just an elected support act for the main guest with just a few singers nights through the year. In between are several clubs which have the floorspots/guest/break/floorspots/guest format. I would hate to pick a favourite ... I would also hate to identify which was the best attended/most successful/most enjoyable to participate in. But most of these clubs have run for a considerable number of years and my feeling is that they have evolved to suit the needs and tastes of their own members (and isn't that what any 'club' in any sphere is in business to do?) and that newcomers to folk will gravitate towards which ever format suits them best.

So where countess richard has suggested that folk clubs need to evolve by finding different formats or venues, I would suggest that todays 'well run' clubs have already evolved, and are continuing to do so, but by serving their own supporters rather than attempting to appeal to a mass audience for the sake of growth. Surely this would only be a mistake as an approach if audiences dwindled below a viable number. But in this area this does not seem to be the case, and in addition we seem to gain a small but steady number of new members who are welcomed and incorporated, and who express their delight at the experience they find.