Yes, by a strange quirk the Lewes Arms does happen to be one of the very few venues I've never actually visited.
(And I'm increasingly less likely to after such a display of hostile, defensive petulance from its 'wesidents')
This is not to say I'm not fully aware of its reputation for musical excellence and that its workshops are not A Good Thing. They are.
It's the insularity, the all lads together bonded in our minority hobby, that I deplore.
And aside from the tiny few of the 60s revival style clubs remaining which retain an ethos of musical diversity rooted in the traditions of English dance music and song and make efforts to involve the local community, the circuit is a laughing stock to the outside world, a morass of mediocrity, and the sooner its beknighted defenders pack it in and enter the 21st century, the better.