YORK is supposed to be a City Of Festivals - but the bulging postbag at the Evening Press suggests otherwise.

In the wake of the disastrous fireworks display on Guy Fawkes Night, our readers have cast doubt over the city's ability to organise a drinking contest in a brewery.

"Feeble", "fiasco" and "farce" were some of the damning criticisms levelled at the council by angry residents.

That's a big contrast to the glitzy launch of the City Of Festivals campaign in January this year, when tourism chiefs promised to bring an unrivalled programme of big-scale events to York.

So has it all gone wrong?

Emphatically not, according to council leader Steve Galloway. He said: "It's very easy to talk down what the council does, but the fact is we have a richness in terms of culture and entertainment which surpasses any city of a similar size in the country or possibly the world.

"Frankly, the proof of the pudding is in the eating. The biggest event we had this year was Royal Asoct and that was hugely successful, attracting tens of thousands of people. It was good for residents and visitors alike, and you can add that to our established events like the Early Music Festival, the York Festival of Food & Drink and, I think, the vast majority of the Guy Fawkes 400 Festival.

"There has been a noticeable buzz around the city for the last few months."

It appears there is demand for bigger and better festivals at York. Following the success of Royal Ascot, the council commissioned a survey about the event.

A 2,300-member panel was asked whether they wanted York to host more major events - and 83 per cent said yes.

Indeed, the entertainment calendar for next year is already packed, with more than 20 festivals planned.

But one Evening Press letter-writer Mark Saunders said the council was simply "blundering from one absurd embarrassment to the next".

Another, Nick Jones, said we should all "set our expectations of local government far lower".

Peter Newton said he hoped "Messsrs Galloway and Co never try planning a trip to a brewery or a brothel".

Given that, should the council even bother trying to organise such major events?

Coun Galloway said: "Major events of one kind or another will always form part of our offering for the future. We are already looking to enhance our activities on the river, expanding on the success of the Dragon Boat race. We are looking to see if we can extend the Royal theme in future years for at least some of the race meetings at the racecourse.

"We will continue to improve the offer and range of entertainment available for residents of the city."

Charlie Croft, the council's assistant director of leisure, has apologised that November 5 was spoiled for those who could not see the fireworks - but said if there had been no pyrotechnics at all, the outcry would have been even louder.

He also revealed negotiations were already under way for next year's display.

He said: "As it happens, we have been approached already by commercial interests who would like to talk to us about running fireworks next year. It can't have been such a disaster, if commercial names wish to approach us to associate themselves with our fireworks.

"A lot of this is about expectations. We didn't promise a fireworks display. We promised skyline fireworks. But if people are disappointed, I have to take that on the chin. The fact that some have been disappointed is a great shame."

At least, said Mr Croft, the city put on a display at all.

"What if we had not done fireworks?" he said.

"We had to put something on - the demand to do something with fireworks was overwhelming."

Updated: 12:22 Monday, November 14, 2005