We've recently started a new club that's been going very well. It's quite a different structure so might be of interest... www.royaltraditions.co.uk

The main differences are that 1) it's in a public bar (with pre-booked seats and a hat for walk up) and 2) we put the act on first and have a session afterwards (from 10pm onwards).

(.. and we've also established a small set repertoire of songs to encourage communal singing throughout the evening.)

It does limit the types of guests you can book (i.e. nobody too quiet) and have potential issues of some audience not contributing to the hat. On the other hand you get a much less sterile atmosphere than is sometimes the case in function-room based clubs, which might help to bring in a student audience?

Jon