I think the problem here is that the pubs are now trying to reinvent themselves as restaurants, and your festival punters don’t really fit into that business model. If our pubs are to survive in the current climate, then they have to focus on what makes money, which frankly is diners and not drinkers, and let’s face it, most musicians and singers are very good at nursing just one or two drinks all evening. That’s certainly not a criticism, since there are good reasons for that, but it’s possibly an inescapable truth.

The pubs of Tenterden have served us well in the past, and the Festival sessions and singarounds would often run for twice their scheduled time slot, but it seems those days are gone. I can vividly recall some places being rammed with punters all day, with some difficulty involved in just getting to the bar, but I guess hardly anybody was actually ordering food back then, because all the tables were occupied by singers, musicians and audience anyway. Feel free to prove me wrong…