I am a member of a flying club and that's precisely why I think I'd rather own!
Don't get me wrong - the flying club is great and has good people, but yesterday I was up for one hour exactly, did one landing, C152. £138. That adds up pretty quick if you want to do more than 10hrs/year. At some point not that far off, it will add up enough to be more costly than owning. Don't know exactly where the break is, but I'm assuming around 30-40hrs.
There's also other considerations with flying club aircraft and that is the practical aspects. Friday I was supposed to go up to London for a job, got snowed in like everybody else and sat in the car for 5hrs like a muppet. Lost the job (they had to get someone else in), yet the skies were clear and I could have made it to my airport and flown up to Southend in time. But I'd have to leave the plane there overnight and fly back the day after as my work takes me into the nights. Or if the weather had been bad, it might have had to sit for more days. This is impossible to do with flying club aircraft as they're always booked out on training flights the day after or something.
And this summer I really want to fly home to Sweden to visit. That's a good 8hr flight in a C152 at a flying club cost of £1104 - one way!
These are my reasons for considering ownership. I hear you about not financing toys, and I agree, but at the same time it doesn't have to be bad business. One could make the same argument about not getting a mortgage buying a house, but few of us would have a house then.