Shabby, leaking portakabins, lavatories which should be marked with bio-hazard signs, coffee which would have shamed British Rail in the 1960s....these are the UK's so-called 'GA aerodromes
I've always been fascinated by the contrast between the facilities at GA fields, and those at the Golf clubs and Gyms patronised by the same demographic.
Part of it's just the difficulty of making GA pay of course. But there also seems to be a perception among many instructors that if you treat people as 'customers' they will expect to get a licence just by paying for it and won't take their training seriously. Whereas the customers are probably looking at the grotty facilities and saying 'this place doesn't seem to take my training as seriously as i do so I'd better go elsewhere'.
Some clubs reminds me of the 'if you behave yourself we will generously allow you near our wonderful aircraft and you will be grateful' approach. Which I found fair enough as a 14 year old ATC cadet getting a free air experience flight but isn't really on for a business competing against other challenges.