19/08/2026
I’m sorry to have to write this post so that people better understand our position and that of the fireworks industry. We are a professional fireworks display company, trading for 20years. We belong to the British Pyrotechnists Association.
We don’t want to see any fires caused by fireworks, nor loss of land, wildlife or properties. Responsible companies such as ourselves will complete a risk assessment, method statement and make changes to adapt to dry conditions. This involves having more staff at displays, more firefighting equipment and monitoring wind conditions. If a display is not deemed safe then we would cancel as we are a responsible company. We’ve never had a wildfire in our 20years.
Our venues and event organisers have already felt immense pressure to cancel from social media abuse from people with little or no knowledge of how much work goes on behind the scenes.
When Andy Burnham sent the alert out, this had a significant effect on our business due to the word "fireworks" being included. It was sent out at 7pm on Friday 14th August 2026 and clients cancelled all displays that weekend and we are continuing to get more cancellations due to that alert right up to the end of August so far.
We believe the word fireworks was likely left vague to force organisers to include professional displays, not just fireworks in people's gardens.
In effect, our industry has been shut down due to this alert.
There is currently no compensation from the government.
There is documented evidence that others had fireworks in London after the alert, that were illegally set off in streets. I would like to ask Sadiq Kahn & Andy Burnham why these people were not stopped from having fireworks or arrested due to illegally letting off fireworks in public places. This is purely about fireworks to show the inconsistencies that we experience.
We lack support from this government. The alert has reduced our display income by 70% this summer. During Covid when businesses were forced to stop trading there was a compensation scheme, it is unacceptable that there is not one now.
Please forward this as much as possible to help us. Thank you for your support.
