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Bonfire Night: Lockdown Edition

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Simon Cereda Senior Consultant 11/05/2020

On a more light-hearted calendar topic, away from polling booths and ballot counting, tonight is Bonfire Night.

It seems we are not a nation of backyard firework lovers, no matter how much your neighbour insists!

However, the latest Savanta ComRes polling indicates that it is less ‘remember, remember’ and more ‘avoid, avoid’.

Over half of Brits (56%) say they do not usually celebrate Bonfire Night and will not this year either.

Of the meagre three in ten Brits that do usually celebrate Bonfire Night, two thirds will not this year (20%), leaving just one in ten Brits (10%) still turning out as they usually do to mark the occasion.

This year, they’ll be joined in equal number (9%) by those who do not usually celebrate but have chosen to in the midst of lockdown.

If the number of Guy Fawkes revelers is less than you expect, it may not all be down to closed public displays. In fact, the majority of Brits (52%) feel that it should be illegal for ordinary members of the public aged 18 or over to purchase fireworks for private use, with just two in five believing this should be legal (40%).

It seems we are not a nation of backyard firework lovers, no matter how much your neighbour insists!

Brits feel most positively about fireworks at Bonfire Night and New Year’s Eve (both 41%), but this support quickly drops to barely a quarter of Brits for occasions such as birthdays (26%), religious festivals (25%) or bank holidays (22%).