I have been following this thread and have become overwhelmed with confusing ambivalence.
When I learnt to fly, things were very different and really in no sense comparable with the current scene. I suppose that makes my comments irrelevant.
Back then, the cost of operating an establishment suitable for ab initio training was low - fabric-covered aircraft, usually war surplus, were cheap to buy and maintain. The clubhouse was an ex-army hut with the CFI (often the only I) officed at one end and the clubroom kitted out with an ill-assorted collection of easy chairs in various degrees of disrepair; the club provided little else beyond a few Brylcreem-lined leather flying helmets. The quality of training was variable but most instructors were ex-services and inculcated competence and a sense of responsibility when the world was a very much simpler place. Things were basic but for a block booking, you could borrow a kite for less than 50/- an hour which now sounds like peanuts but as the national wage was less than £10/week, one had to be pretty keen to get in the 40 hours to PPL. Of course, this was years before the adoption of the "positive customer experience".
Today, this shoestring type of operation has been legislated out of existence to be replaced by what effectively is an academy devoted to the teaching of law, communications, avionics and all the stuff which was thought superfluous to VFR flight more than 50 years ago.
Modern private flying aircraft by comparison are sophisticated machines and correspondingly expensive - sadly, whilst allowing you to acquire the abilities necessary to obtain a basic licence, they will not teach you to fly. Business costs are astronomic compared with a notional rent for a small hut in a corner of a grass aerodrome of times gone by and I'm sure the expectation of would-be pilots now is increased in accordance with this advanced sophistry.
Whereas in the past, running a flying club was a largely amateurish affair and all manner of what might now be regarded as "non commercial" practices were commonplace, the exigencies of modern business militate against these. Frankly, I'm surprised that anyone would want to operate a flying school in this country.
My confusion is caused by my seeing both sides of the argument - I can only conclude that I'm lucky to have been able to take off my four bars before the whole business became stifled by an overbearing beauracracy.
Sorry, that doesn't advance the discussion much, does it?