We can't afford Bonfire Night, but spent millions on an arts venue most people won't visit

Bonfire Night has been a family tradition for generations of children growing up in Manchester.

With giant firework displays and fires open to the public at the likes of Heaton Park, it was where thousands would head for the celebration knowing they'd be in for a fun night.

Since Covid, events like this still haven't returned and this week Manchester City Council announced that once again there will be no bonfire at Heaton Park. While similar events at eight parks, including Platt Fields Park, Cringle Park, Debdale Park and Wythenshawe Park, will also not be taking place and have not returned since 2019.

Read more: 'Another tradition eliminated' - Anger as Heaton Park and Platt Fields bonfires cancelled

Confirming the decision, the council said it had ‘reprioritised’ funding, which would be used towards supporting and enhancing ‘the delivery of a wide range of free, community focused activities in parks across the city’.

As an alternative, the council says it's engaged with community partners to develop a programme of autumn and winter events in the wards which had previously held those events. In previous years such events have included pumpkin carving, Halloween in the City and the Christmas parade.

There's no disputing that those are decent events, although the latter two are city centre based and that comes with added costs for families, many of whom are struggling more than ever with the ongoing cost of living crisis.

The thing about Heaton Park - which was one of the biggest firework displays in the north west - was how accessible it was for many, both practically and financially.

So many of today's events are simply unaffordable for families and it was one thing the whole family could do together, for free, taking along your own drinks and snacks and enjoying a fabulous fireworks display in a safe environment.

Everyone knows how much fireworks cost and few families have enough spare cash to be putting on a lavish display of their own. They also like to know it's a well organised event with all the necessary health and safety checks.

Yes, obviously the council needs to foot the bill for such a celebration and this year has once again decided against the idea.

While you may think that's understandable in the current climate, it does raise questions over what it does deem worthy of funding from town hall coffers.

Let's take the new Aviva Studios for example. The home of Factory International opened last year, with the final cost of the landmark arts venue confirmed at nearly a quarter-of-a-billion pounds. In 2017, the original budget for the building was £110 million, but this spiralled to £210.8 million in five years.

After more money was allocated to the project, including £22.3 million last September, the total budget was £240.99 million.

Council taxpayers haven't footed all of this bill, but the authority has pumped ‘just under £100 million’ into the project, so it's still a massive investment.

Yet how many residents have even heard of it, let alone visited the place?

Don't get me wrong, there's all sorts of things going on there, with art exhibitions, concerts, talks and theatre. Much of it is pretty niche, a lot of it pretty highbrow.

A quick search for 'what's on' for families right now leads to a rather sad 'sorry, no events found' page.

In the school holidays a family-friendly multi-sensory experience was advertised mixing animation, cinema and interaction.

Sweet Dreams was billed as 'a brand-new immersive adventure that invites you to step into the world of the Real Good Chicken Company'.

Visitors were invited to enter the Real Good Chicken Company’s headquarters and let has-been mascot Chicky Ricky take them under his wing for a 'weird and wonderful journey into the food chain'.

In reality, the £10 a ticket event, saw visitors become a worker in a factory, while the centrepiece of this bizarre project was throwing packets of salt on the grave of a 7ft cartoon chicken. Not your typical family outing.

While there's obviously an audience for everything, there's a limit to the number of people something like this will attract and for many, it's simply not their cup of tea.

Aviva will now be a permanent home for the Manchester International Festival, which takes place biennially, but that has its own struggles when it comes to reaching out to families.

Exhibitions like last year's You, Me and the Balloons inflatable art show might look amazing, and it was undoubtedly impressive, but show an inflatable to most kids and they want to touch it, climb on it and bounce on it - not have a photo taken with it.

To make art accessible to kids, you've got to make it fun, not 'Instagrammable'.

Bonfire Night at Heaton Park was good old, traditional family fun and it was accessible to everyone. I'm not sure those making the decisions know just how much they're taking away.