Now this is why it would perhaps have been better for the landlady to post here...

Scrump

They are hoping to have music several days a week - the folk part is an interest that she has particularly and wanted to pursue. They are intending to try to have live bands too. The pub, as I said earlier, is an area that could draw from quite a large student community and so a range of music could be put on - Bands - Diddly diddly session - Acoustic singers night - Singaround etc etc etc

My only suggestion - which links in with GrahamP's comment is that in my experience the truly driven session player is rarely that interested in singing WITHIN THE CONTEXT OF A SESSION. If you know York and went to the Maltings on a Tesday with a view to singing a song I think you would be sorely disappointed.

At the outset of setting things up you at least have the ability to define your terms and - perhaps not strangely - things may well stay that way. We have run a mixed weekly gathering where we are for four and a bit years and people know the (mostly unstated) rules where we are ie that we go round in a circle and when it's your turn you can do what you like; that you join in with others if encouraged and desist if discouraged; that you show some respect for others when they perform blah blah... Mick at Monks Walk Beverley runs something similar as do many others. It happens to work for us.

In York there is a session crowd who go to the Maltings on Tuesday; Golden Ball on a Sunday; Tap and Spile on a friday though the last is more of a mixed gathering - noise levels determining though that something noisy is pretty much the only way to cut through. The Tap and Spile being a 'leap in if your brave' session can mean that if there is a good crowd of session players then the singers probably take a backseat (with the eception of Stallion and co who could probably drown a full orchestra doing the 1812 on a good night).

As they have the opportunity to attract a range of people it seemed silly to spoil a session night by compromising it with singers, and would make more sense to have a singaround - acoustic night or similar on a different night.

Alternatively to have a mixed night where you try to accommodate everyone which I think might fall between all the stools. In my experience true session players like to get stuck in and segue between tunes and people with occasional pauses for a quick slake of the favoured tipple but little else.

Added to that is Lorna's liking of instrumental session music - and probably it's wider immediate appeal to the general public (debate that one if you care) - and it would seem best to try to establish that first.

I might be totally wrong of course which is why I raised it here for other's input.

As I said above, our personal experience out at Flaxton has been to create a very different beast because it suits the regular crowd of people who come, and the visitors who come (and usually come back) come because they know exactly what the evening is about rather than guessing and being disappointed.

I try to go to Monks Walk Session in Beverley when I can because I know what it will be and could probably name a number of other places where I travel with some certainty rather than in hope.

If they decide to go for a mixed session that's fine as long as people kow what they are coming to. As Stallion pointed out in the post above with the massed guitar band - he left because it wasn't what he chose to do, and I would guess he has never been back.

If they create a nice environment for people to play and know what they are getting they will do fine as long as they do all the other things right! If you go and have a cracking session one week and next week it is something totally different then there is a chance you may potentially lose your hardcore session players (ho ho the ones who perform in the nude...) and by trying to be all things to all people end up being none of them.

My 40p worth anyway.