Jim - with respect to your years and experience - I think it's difficult to generalise about quality of standards in clubs - whether in England or Ireland or anywhere else from one or two personal experiences here and there. There are certainly widely varying standards in clubs around the country - as has been discussed to death in this thread - but I didn't find anything spectacular in Waterford (for one example) when I was there last week. But why should I draw any conclusions about Irish music from one experience in Waterford?

As it happens, my last experience in a folk club over here was last week in a club where 20 floor performers, mainly regulars, did one song each on either side of the main band. The standard and commitment was very high from the floor performers, and the band - playing traditional stuff on smallpipes, whistles, accordion, guitar, hammered dulcimer - was superb.

Was either experience enough to generalise on? - I don't think so.