Fireworks For Sale in Widnes

Widnes is one of the closest towns to our counter, a short run north over the Halton border, and that makes it one of the few places where coming to look at what you are buying costs you almost nothing in time.

Worth knowing before you set off: the shop is Fireworks And Fancy Dress, and the second half of that is not an afterthought. It is a dressing-up counter in its own right, and most of what leaves it for Widnes goes out in the same fortnight as the fireworks do.

One trip, two counters

Late October is the only stretch of the year when a household needs both at once. Halloween wants costumes and the fifth of November wants a display, and they fall four days apart. Doing the two in one visit rather than two is the whole argument for driving the six or so miles rather than ordering blind, and it is the reason the shop keeps both under one roof in the first place.

The costume side runs year-round, though. Stag and hen nights, themed birthdays, school productions and the occasional wedding all come through it in months that have nothing to do with Bonfire Night.

The fireworks, for a Widnes garden

The range runs to over 190 pieces. If you have not put a display on before, the 11 selection boxes are the sensible place to begin: each is a mixed set chosen to work as a sequence, so you are not standing in the dark deciding what to light next. Ten fountains and 9 Roman candles fill the quieter middle of an evening, and 8 sparklers see it out.

For something with more in it, over 100 of the range are barrages and cakes, where one fuse sends up a whole sequence. Those are what most larger displays are built from, and they are also the hardest to judge from a photograph, which brings us back to the trip.

Before you set off

The hours are in the panel on this page and they are not the same all season — they stretch through the end of October and change again around the fifth. The last week of October is when both counters are at their busiest, so the quiet hour is a weekday morning and the one to avoid is a Saturday afternoon.