The Dynamic Fireworks shop, which is open all year, is situated in Colchester. On the map it appears to be slightly out of the way but in actual fact it is only a short drive from the A12. We were popping in via London and it was a very straightforward drive from the M25, so the shop is an attractive destination for enthusiasts not just from East Anglia where we are but from the south east too.

Having come off the A12 it was time to put their "How to find us map" to the test. Despite a large number of roundabouts and other junctions we found it without getting lost, a major bonus for us. Once in the industrial estate the Dynamic Shop stood there like a glowing church, calling the faithful to buy fireworks. OK so maybe it was just an industrial unit but it did have a nice "FIREWORKS" sign on it.

Very modern looking and very easy to spot too thanks to a number of
bright firework signs!

From the corner and this is the view as you first drive down their road.     A handy "Firework Shop" sign just to be on the safe side!

The shop itself was bright, simple in design and nicely laid out with what looked like the whole Planet Fireworks range neatly displayed in glass cabinets. Effective presentation of fireworks with clear descriptions helps the customer greatly and it was nice to see that Dynamic had descriptive cards next to most of their fireworks.

With a good brand like Planet and particularly when it's nicely displayed like this, you can be overcome by urges to spend money (evil grin) and fill your car with pyro. Dynamic like most shops today always have a good range in stock, and more on hand if required. Still, we always advise you to phone ahead if you are after a particular item (or a large number of one item) to check availability.

Wild Blue Ocean, an excellent cake, sits alongside various other
colourful fireworks

Lots of candles and rockets.     The main cabinet full of Dynamic's excellent cakes and barrages.

Behind the counter and even more rocket packs.     Tasty pyro including Stampede!

While we were looking at the stock on offer a number of customers popped in. A few of these were picking up packs or collecting orders, these were already boxed up for the customers to take away. The others, clearly fireworks lay people, needed guidance for a display and the Dynamic staff were actually very good at getting to the root of the customer's requirements and suggesting the best fireworks. I must apologise but I did interrupt two sales to "force" the customer to purchase the Best Buy Stampede, it would have been a crime if they had left the shop without one.

With the afternoon rush out of the way it was time to get down to the serious business of drinking tea, eating biscuits and nattering about fireworks. Nigel, the boss, is totally into fireworks and his interest also extends to firework memorabilia, his collection of "Ye olde" pyro was fascinating (but I don't know how people collect fireworks, I would not be able to keep a firework longer than a few weeks without letting it off).

Dynamiter! You can't buy military grade explosives like this anymore ;-)     Check out the instructions on the back!

This firework is an amazing piece of fireworks history.     Some of the old fireworks are fascinating.

And then what we had been waiting for, the guided tour. We tried not to leap out of our chairs too fast, playing it cool as if this was just a day's work for us, but inside this is where the excitement starts. There is nothing quite like - to an enthusiast at least - seeing huge piles of fireworks. I don't know what it is, maybe we need treatment.

This was the wonderful sight that greeted us in the store.

First stop, the basic store which serves the shop. This contains the working stock for the day to day needs of the retail outlet, so it had a little bit of everything. It was great to see all the fireworks featured in the brochure to get a better sense of scale, some were actually quite a bit bigger than they looked on paper.

Pyro heaven!!! Loads of small cakes including the rhythmic "Rodeo".     Various cakes and candles.

Daughters of the Sea. Lots of them!     Cowboy Zinger, Blinking Delights and Cover Story

Falcon Rising, Sound King and Great Godzilla.     The noise section, Thunder Scud and Ack Ack barrage.

100 Yellow Ribbons and the weird sounding Wild Bear.     Super Sonic and Happy Holidays.

Luvagoodbang fondles a daughter of the sea. The look on his face says it all, heheh...     ... while I get my hands around an Ack Ack Barrage.

Next stop was the workshop. This was mainly concerned with preparations for their bigger professional shows, with racks of cabling and firing boxes. On the main bench was some lancework being made to order. The timber frames for these are created in the workshop before being taken to their process shed to add the actual pyrotechnics.

As you will have gathered so far, Dynamic cover virtually every aspect of fireworks from a shop through to mail order, and professional shows too. The more we looked around, the clearer it was becoming that Dynamic were a far, far bigger concern than we had realised. This is an interesting point because many companies blow their own trumpet, Dynamic seem to let their service and products do the talking.

A lancework frame "in progress". At the moment it says something in Bulgarian but by the time it's finished it will look great. You can see the amount of manual work required, hence the expense of this type of firework.     A genuine tail section from a very large RAF bomb. Not the sort of thing you expect to find under the stairs but an interesting sight nonetheless!

Just when we thought it was over, and the fat lady was about to sing, Nigel asked us if we wanted to take a look around one of their main storage sites out in the country. Er, no thanks Nigel I need to get back to wash my hair. OF COURSE WE DO!!! You have not seen two people leave the shop and get back into the car quicker than this (passers by must have thought we had just robbed the place)...