Conrad, are you totally incapable of understanding that what attracts people to a music event is the quality of the music? Beer and food are secondary considerations. Certainly it's important that the venue serves good quality beer, but the price of it is not generally an issue - if people find it too expensive they buy less of it. I've never come across anyone, apart from you, who would refuse to attend an event because of the price of the beer.

As for being elitist, folk music is one of the least elitist activities I know. Whilst it may be true that the majority of folkies today are middle-class and well-educated, there are no barriers and I know people in the folk world who come from all backgrounds.

It is also one of the cheapest forms of entertainment, the price of beer notwithstanding - many events are free, and you can buy a ticket to a weekend festival for less than it costs to attend a 90-minute football (ie soccer) match - as hundreds of thousands of working-class people can afford go to football every weekend, paying far more than they would at the most expensive folk venue, it is clearly not cost which is keeping them away from folk events. The only person who finds it an obstacle is you, and that's because you insist on consuming large quantities of food and beer.

It's also true that the folk world can sometimes appear a bit cliquey. However that's unintentional, and simply arises because it's a small community where a lot of people have known one another for years, and one where amateurs can mingle freely and play alongside internationally recognised performers. If you feel excluded, it's either because you haven't made the effort, or more likely the local folk community doesn't want a self-opinionated boozer who when he's not stuffing his face is constantly whingeing about the way they run things but is too lazy to do anything about it.

As it happens, I have been privileged to sit alongside some of the "rustics" who preserved the music well into the 20th Century - people like Fred Jordan, Walter Pardon, Bob Roberts and Oscar Woods, for example. Not only were they wonderful performers, they were unfailingly courteous and welcoming to anyone who appreciated their music.