A FOLK club is back in tune having found a new venue after being asked to leave its home of more than 20 years.

Members of Durham City Folk Club were told they could no longer meet at the Colpitt's Hotel, in Colpitt's Terrace.

Although no explanation was given, it appears to be part of a ban on live and recorded music in pubs owned by Samuel Smith's Brewery, of North Yorkshire.

Club secretary Ian McCulloch was left with the task of finding an alternative for the weekly sing-a-long at short notice.

"It was a shock when we were told. We had a good relationship with the landlady, and it was a nice traditional pub where we met in our own room. No one had ever complained about our activities, but there was nothing we could do."

Mr McCulloch literally went out on foot calling in pubs in and around the city to try to find somewhere suitable for the club to relocate.

As he spread his search to the city suburbs, he struck lucky at the Grange Foundry, in Kepier Crescent, Gilesgate Moor.

The first meeting at the new venue was held last Thursday and it is now a weekly date, from 8.30pm onwards.

He said: "It's just a case of getting word round to our members, old and new."