I hear folk music almost every time I go to a folk club. But that is because I am very selective about which clubs I go to and there are a few that I have only been to once and have no intention of returning.

On the other hand, as a club regular when the big decline happened in the 70s and 80s I don't recognise Jim's description. The big departure seemed to be down to mortgages and children with those left singing the same proportion of folk songs as before. It was later that the Beatles songs and the rest started creeping into the repertiore at some clubs.

The thing that made a lot of clubs unattractive was the application of the values of a singaround to what was advertised as a concert with floor spots. The factors that make a singaround a success anre not the same as those for a guest night or even for an open stage type of singers night.