There were both pretty sad looking clubs and great clubs around in the 80s and 90s, just as there are now, and I remember there were both kinds in the 70s also.

However, the number of clubs around now seems much reduced - at one time there was usually one for every town, even for every small town, but there seem to be many fewer now.

I'm looking forward to reading the Bean book, but if he makes the argument that the scene is now thriving again (an argument that would make sense from the point of view of selling the book), I may well find I don't entirely agree. We'll see.

Gavin