Folk Clubs are struggling round our way also - Saddleworth side of Manchester. Geoff and I attribute it to the vast number of session / singaround clubs where audiences don't have to pay, so they don't like the idea of being charged even £5.

Our Cross Keys is an excellent pub, but I know that Jim Schofield has very low audiences some weeks, even though the guest list is pretty impressive. I ran it for 6 years, and some weeks I was panicking about finding the money to pay the artists - it's no fun to keep having to dip into your own pocket!

I also agree with Harry - the surge of numbers of festivals has also made an impact. We tend to go to more Festivals than folk clubs at some times of the year.

Well, what can we do?????

Ali