I effectively did, once. A 'blues and brews' night at the John Peel Centre in Stowmarket. We were capping off the eveing, 3 blues bands, with local small brewery beers available. The deal, agred by guitarist, was that we got £50 (for the band, not each) plus a share of the door money. As we were on last we were asked if the other bands could use our drum kit. I got there early and they were just packing away the venue's drum kit to a side room. WTF? £10 on the door, some 60 souls turned up on a frozen February night. Takings at the bar were also very good. 2 months later, when emails were eventually answered, we were told that, sady, they had only just managed to take enough to cover costs. Cheating, lying b@stards. My share of the £50 (we are a trio) didn't quite cover my fuel and food costs so, yes, I paid to play.
That's the JOHN PEEL CENTRE, STOWMARKET, folks. Avoid.