FIREWORK sellers in Huddersfield have reported bumper sales in the run-up to New Year 2011.
Helen Ashton, marketing manager for the Standard and Black Cat fireworks factory in Crosland Hill, said the British will let off a predicted £2.5m of fire crackers this New Year.
And a good share of those will be in Huddersfield.
She told the Examiner: “I think the trend kicked off in the Millennium – that’s when it became a big thing for people to set off fireworks at New Year.
“Everyone went to big firework parties and welcomed the New Year in with big displays rather than going out.
“What we’ve seen since 2000 is that the sales on our website have definitely gone up and up.
“And it shows their popularity when some of our big retailers like Tesco – who haven’t sold fireworks at New Year before – have decided to stock them in 10 of their shops this year.
“New Year celebrations are definitely the biggest day for fireworks sales after bonfire night.”
Helen said the most popular firework sold on their website was the Colossus.
She said: “It’s a firework with strobe effects, bursts, swirls, comet tails and a finale of golden glitter.
“And it’s a single ignition firework which is what most of our popular fireworks tend to be.
“It means you just light the firework once but it moves to different bursts and colours and the maker has choreographed it especially so it’s not just one bang but different sequences with a finale.
“It’s popular these days because people don’t want to be stood outside forever watching fireworks or spend ages setting them up – especially in the cold weather we’re having at the moment.
“This way they can just dig the firework into the ground and set it alight and watch it for a couple of minutes and it is all choreographed for them and a bit of an event but not too taxing.”
The Black Cat factory shop on Blackmoorfoot Road is offering a 70% discount to customers for one day only from 10am to 4pm on Thursday, December 30.
