I think with Nick we are seeing the start of the post folk club era.

It all depends what you mean by 'folk club', doesn't it? I've got two in walking distance. One (the Beech singaround) is attended by 20-30 people, mostly 50+, who take turns to sing (mostly) traditional songs, mostly unaccompanied, & join in on choruses. It's a welcoming group, but the general standard of singing and knowledge is high.

The other (Chorlton FC) pulls in 50-60 people, a lot of whom are under 30, and puts on anything up to 20 acts in an average evening (one song each); there's a rough three-way split between traditional material, new songs and covers; standards of performance cover a very wide range, and there's quite a lot of referring to songsheets and "haven't tried this one in public before".

So people who think 'folk' means anyone can get up and have a bash have got somewhere to go (I go there myself sometimes - it's a good night out). And people who think it means Lord Bateman and Jones's Ale and a bit of Cyril Tawney or Keith Marsden have got somewhere to go (I go *there* every time, unless I'm ill or something). So as far as my local area's concerned, the folk club scene seems to be alive and well. (Pete Ryder, who wrote the Nat Shapiro song, did a set at Chorlton a while back, incidentally; went down a storm. He does a terrific Miss Otis Regrets.)