oh, yes, Shambles and all, the "Folk Club" format is SO familliar. The Railway at Nantwich, Cheshire was like that. We stopped going when they tried to chill a learner out. There were two factions in that one, one to run the club and one to organise the yearly festival. They had stopped speaking to each other by the time we called it a day.
Our monthly Blues and Folk night avoids most of the pitfalls, except the date each month, which is just as you say, the R in the month being critical!!!!
We had some problems to start with, because we insisted on welcoming all musicians, not just those who are Irish purists.
The venue is Mid-Wales, for those who don't know where I come from. ahawyl, Bron.