To the guest who posted without giving a name. I fail to understand the nature of your post? Does Whitby welcome us? Yes, why wouldn't it? The Whitby Folk Week is now an important and vital source of income for a town that has, like so many, lost its primary reason for existing - in Whitby's case, fishing. The town's income now depends on the leisure industry of which WFW is a major part. As a visitor to the town over the week I spend around £500 in the town. Multiply that by the number of folkies that attend and you have maybe a couple of thousand people additional to the normal holiday makers, spending around £1,000, 000 in a week on drinks, food entertainment etc. That's a lot of money from outside the town, coming in and staying in to the benefit of the local economy. When Sam Smiths stopped the Plough having music the pub effectively lost something in the region of £40, 000 over the week. If the other pubs in Whitby are benefitting from the folk week by even a half of this figure then your posting is nothing more that bitter nonsense.