There is some interesting discussion about the state of the folk club scene over the last decade or so, but personally I am still not sure if folk clubs as we know, and sometime love, them will whether the storm. Nearly every folk club I went to in London has closed either mainly due to the fickleness of pub venues.

What we don't know is how many existing venues will still be in business when the lockdown finally ends, how many of us will be around or will have the will to organise or even attend clubs. There will always be performers, but if we lose the intimacy of small/medium size clubs in favour of concert venues, folk as an inclusive entertainment will get harder to find.

I have no worries for the future of folk song and music. For as long as we have collections preserved, that reference point will always be there. I believe their will continue to be new waves of technically brilliant professional, but without the continuity of clubs, that understanding of 'community in performance' could be lost.

I know that I am doing nowhere near enough to support folk clubs, with so many other distractions in my everyday life.

Anyway - gone off on a tangent - I read suggestions that 'clubs' could continue but go underground, a bit like Czech Theatre did under commmunism, for example Havel producing living room performances. Maybe this is something that folk needs to do, but I can't see it re-emerging later as this isn't the same as countering cultural suppression. With pop-up micro pubs - there are a few near me but they are very small. One I go to is smaller than my living room!

I guess we need to wait and see what happens.