Bristol Harbour Festival fireworks are cancelled

The fireworks display will switch to the Downs in November

The annual fireworks display at the Bristol Harbour Festival has been cancelled and will move to the Downs.

Bristol City Council said it could no longer afford to fund the cost of stewarding for the display.

Deputy leader, Liberal Democrat councillor Simon Cook, said there would not be as much money for the event.

In 2010, about 50,000 people watched the fireworks which took place on Saturday evening and 250,000 attended the three-day event in total.

"Our headline sponsor dropped out two years ago and they put £100,000-a-year into the Harbour Festival," said Mr Cook.

"That's meant for the past two years we've had to plug it with other funding and what we need to do from now on is get it on to a more sustainable basis."

Ticketed events

He added that crowd safety had been an issue for the event and the cost of stewarding was more than the cost of the fireworks display itself.

The council will now look at introducing ticketed events at venues such as the M-Shed instead.

Conservative councillor Peter Abraham said the Harbour Festival had been a "great success" and the fireworks display was the "pinnacle" of that.

"We're running out of money and we can't afford it - I accept that," he said.

"But I would have fought a bit harder to get some sponsorship for the fireworks - that could have been done and should have been done."

The fireworks display will switch to the Downs on 5 November 2011 to mark the parkland's 150th anniversary.