But in spite of the creeping nostalgia for the homemade bonfire nights of old, fireworks are still big business.

It is estimated that more than £100m is spent each year on increasingly spectacular bangers. In pockets of Britain there remains a deeply entrenched Guy Fawkes culture. In Lewes in east Sussex, the burning of a papal effigy caps an orgy of fire-raising.

John Woodhead, the recently retired chairman of the British Firework Association, admitted that sales have been falling partly as a result of tighter legislation and more recently the recession.

Since 2004 it has been an offence for anyone under the age of 18 to be in possession of a firework and the threat of ever-cheaper and noisier products saw the industry threatened by draconian curbs in 2001 unless it cleaned up its act.

The mounting cost of public liability insurance has also deterred some organisers of medium-size events from holding a display and some councils are growing concerned about the environmental impact of fireworks.

Mr Woodhead said: "I suppose it has taken some of the fun out of the thing but it has definitely been worth it to have a safer industry. Kids did used to throw bangers at each other but times change. In the heyday there were a lot more fireworks set off but now the ones we do see are more expensive and definitely safer. The anti-fireworks lobby has disappeared."

The saviour of the UK industry in the light of declining November 5 sales has been the greater use of fireworks throughout the rest of the year.

Fireworks manufacturers, only one of which now exists in the UK after Standard Fireworks was sold off to a Hong Kong company in 1998, now concentrate their efforts on other occasions, including New Year's Eve, which since the Millennium has become a night to rival Guy Fawkes, and the Hindu festival of Diwali.

There has been massive growth in the number of large organised displays, as well as festivals and music events using fireworks.

While fireworks are more expensive than they used to be, they tend to be much better.

The quality of home displays has been revolutionised by the development since the 1990s of multi-shot fireworks, which can give 20 to 30 explosions from a single ignition point.

But for some people there is still nothing to replace bonfire night itself.

- INDEPENDENT

By Jonathan Brown