In the late '60s through to the late 70's thousands and thousands of Folk Clubs existed. Almost every town and city and lots of vil-lages had clubs.

Then they started to close - many never to re-open. Why did the Folk Club scene collapse?

I offer:

1. The quality of some, many?, was low
2. Their is a limit to the number of times anyone can enjoy the cannon of "popular folk songs"
3. It was a generational thing - we all went off to have children
4. The climate of 80s Thatcherism was running elswhere
5. Punk was much more exciting and then them New Romantics?

Things are looking more promising at the moment but what can we learn from last time?