The main difference I see between the folk clubs I used to visit and the ones now is the frequency of guest nights. The clubs I used to go to had guests most weeks and gave floor spots to anyone who asked. The standard of floor spots was usually pretty good - appearing on the same stage as well-known professional performers was an incentive to improve. Now most clubs seem to put on a guest only every few weeks, and then support is limited to a few of of the regular residents. Is this a failure of confidence, or is that audiences aren't willing to pay enough to hear professional performers on a regular basis?

As for getting Young People involved, this is a problem faced by clubs in most fields (with the possible exception of organised sports) and doesn't just affect folk clubs. Young People today don't seem to be much interested in clubs, they have different ways of meeting up. In particular they aren't very interested in joining in with people old enough to be their parents or even grandparents. Although folk music will always be a minority interest, I don't think we need to worry that younger generations are not discovering it, but they are finding their own ways to perform and enjoy it. It's just that these generally don't include the folk clubs that for our generation were the core.