"I would certainly go the the Lewes Arms week after week after week were it local to me"

And you would be welcome.

We have nationally known "names" regularly and on other weeks a more local singer/muso who does his/her thing for the love of it and the "Hat collection".

We ask for a set entrance fee each week which is increased when we have a higher status guest. How much that is is not really relevant here but other clubs may find a similar charging policy workable. "What the market will bear" is going to be one of the factors to be considered along with any room hire costs. A little bit of surplus to save up for a bigger name guest, and the ubiquitous raffle [£1 a strip?]( I don't always win the bottle of red wine).

It really needs proper joined-up thinking to make it all work.

So I suppose it almost amounts to running a little business and therefore club organisers need to be as "professional2 as they are able to be.

Dave