Perhaps more importantly, if you want to get a feel for what's going on "in the round" you might ask what's going on in the 3 pubs in my village. Here's my answer.

1. The Rose & Crown
This is the "village pub". There's a regular monthly acoustic session ... songs and tunes (mostly what could be described as "folk") ... it's the venue for quite a few events (darts/dominoes/cribbage competitions, conkers contests, sloe gin competitions etc.) as well as hosting local rock bands occasionally despite the bar areas being quite small. The mummers practise here in season and usually sing a few songs and there are occasional "impromptu" (i.e. completely unplanned) sessions where people either just sing or maybe go back home and get their instruments.

2. The Bushel & Strike
Till recently, the Bushel was the main venue for live music, having a large room out back which is ideal for a small concert hall. There were monthly concerts till last November (these may start up again this year) and there was a weekly "open mike" (very eclectic) until a year or so ago. The pub's a bit in decline at the moment, but the summer will probably see more activity.

3. The Three Tuns
Since the new landlord arrived in October, there have been weekly concerts on a Friday night. A mixed bunch of musicians ... bands, singer-songwriters playing guitar or keyboard, duos. Not much else musically, but they have other events like quiz nights. It's not entirely unheard of to have spontaneous singing occur in this (or either of the other) pubs but it's difficult to predict when this will happen as it's spontaneous.

Obviously, in a village, there are other things which run across these boundaries ... the local morris teams visit the pubs once or twice a year and perform at local events (e.g. Ashwell At Home, Ashwell Show). The local sword dancers visit occasionally and the village mummers perform in the pubs at Christmas (and sometimes Easter). There are also 4 or 5 bands in the village ... mainly 60s/70s/80s rock, but a couple do acoustic sessions and there is an acoustic "folk" band and, if it's still going, a ceilidh band.

For reference, the next village has only one pub but it also has a monthly session and other related activity.

:-)
Ian