Absolutely not, Jim. Unless by war of attrition you mean setting the record straight. Which I will do once again.

You say,"This decline has been taking place since the late eighties". The article to which I referred says the same.

The number of clubs began to decline in the 1980s, in the face of changing musical and social trends.

Note that it agrees with you on when it happened, just not why. Which is what I have said all along. Furthermore, you go on to say "when I mad many others stopped widely visiting clubs" so, when you stopped visiting, you no longer had your finger on the pulse. The article goes on to say

The decline began to stabilise in the mid-1990s with the resurgence of interest in folk music

So, after you lost touch with clubs, the decline stabilised.

I believe your opinion of why clubs declined is wrong and, since you lost touch, the decline has stopped. Which is what the article confirms. I would go further and say since the early 2000s the interest in folk music has increased but that is just my opinion. It is however now backed up by the fact that there is more folk music in the public eye than ever before. Something that never could have happened with folk clubs which were never part of main stream media.