30 years ago today

[x2boys]

30 years ago today
The IRA bombed manchester city centre
It was a miracle there were no fatalities the much of the city cente was destroyed though

Yup, I was in Aflecks Palace when it happened

I was 14

My sister was in manchester at the time
They were told it was a " controlled explosion".
She phoned home to let my Mum and Dad know she was ok and they hadent heard the news!
These were the dsys before the internet and 24 hour rolling news.

Thank you for posting this. It is easy to forget how recently the IRA were a significant threat in the UK. And many people aren't aware at all.

Wow. I was 5 when this happened, so obviously didn’t know anything about it. It’s mad to think this sort of thing happened in the UK. It feels like we’ve gone from that to extreme Islamist terror.

RIP to everyone who has lost their lives in one of these awful incidents.

The coded warning from the IRA said the bomb would go off within an hour so the bomb disposal unit were up against it.

I remember getting the bus to work the following Monday and being dropped off at the other side of the city centre instead of at the bus station and having to walk around the perimeter of the police cordon. There was glass everywhere.

Yep i was a student nurse in salford at the time so not far away at all .

I wish I could get my son to go back and see what it was like during this time. Irish Catholic roots and he just does not get it at all. I remember me and him watching a documentary on the twin towers the night we did the black cab political tour of Belfast. The unhidden hostility the tour guide had towards me until he found out DS had Irish Catholic grandparents.

He would have changed his tune again to know fil did a tour for the army. Because you know, immigration and integration and not every Irish person in tiny rural villages believed in violence.

Could not see the link at all. Because I find the whole "troubles" word fluffs and softens this time and as a family it's never talked about. Ever. Maybe I won't ever get it and neither will he.

Yes - it's easy to forget the impact it had growing up in England. No bins anywhere, searching the store frequently at the shop I had a Saturday job in when there were bomb warnings.

As someone who grew up to the backdrop of the troubles I guess I can’t really relate to a bomb with no causalities being such a stand out thing in my life. Perhaps why so many people in the UK will never be able to contemplate NI or the lasting effects bleeding through to today.

Blimey, 30 years?

I'm not sure if I'm shocked it's so much, or so little time, I remember it all so well.

IRA bombings and all our precautions were such a huge part of my growing up that they've never left me. The Harrods bomb, Regent's Park bomb and Deal Barracks bombings are particularly vivid for me.

Im.sure your right
I cant comprehend how it must have been growing up in NI in the 70s and 80,s
The manchester bomb was huge apparently the biggest since the 2nd world war
Its amazing there were no faltalities
Whilst it caused a huge amount of damage and they were rebuilding the city centre for years thats nothing compared to loss of life

I was shopping in the next street to the army recruitment centre in Charles St, Leicester when the IRA blew up an army vehicle in Feb 1990.

Funnily enough, following the rioting in Belfast recently I was talking to my kids about the IRA, but as their early 30's/late 20's they had no idea of how prolific the IRA were and how the troubles reached us all

Yes, I can only understand what it was like for us on the mainland.

I know it was so much worse for you in Norn Iron.

Still makes me cry thinking about. I was riding my horse in the hills 10 miles away but with a great view of Manchester. I remember walking through the streets a few days later and the devastation to the buildings, particularly the Royal Exchange fair broke my heart.

I remember going to places in London like the Ideal Home Exhibition, Horse of the Year show etc as a teenager and having bags searched and high police presence around these types of events.

My mum always said ‘at least the IRA tend to give warnings’

I never knew anything different but I think she felt that their bombing campaigns were not designed to target people so much as buildings.

on a tour of Belfast the guide said ‘we have a lot of car parks’ meaning so many buildings were flattened?

I was too young and sheltered to have a view on it all at the time. Desperately sad and like a PP said ‘the troubles’ makes it sound like a little playground brawl.

Do they know about the Brighton bombing that killed 5 people, was a near miss for Thatcher, and crippled Norman Tebbit's wife? Or the Downing Street mortar attack?

I take it for granted people know these things, but I'm growing old without realising.

It's a blessing that the youngsters are growing up with this being "History" to be learnt in classrooms, rather than their actual lives. But I do think it's important they are aware of it.

It didn't have no casualties. It had no fatalities. There is a difference. It also demolished and damaged many recognisable buildings in Manchester.

In 1992 the IRA had also detonated two bombs in Manchester city centre. The first behind Kendal's and some of the people fleeing that were taken to the Arndale where a second bomb went off. 66 people were injured.

I either dont remember that or didnt no about it thanks for sharing.

There were also the Warrington bombings in 1993.

When you realise how close some of these events were to the signing of the Good Friday agreement it puts things into perspective. There's a hell of a lot of awful things in living memory.

I was 13 at the time. Mum was shopping in Marks and Spencer’s and was evacuated from there, so went somewhere up market street and was evacuated from there and was moved up to Piccadilly when the bomb went off. Our car was parked in the Arndale centre car park and it was about a week before we could get it back.

To get to school I had to get the bus into Manchester every day, I remember glass everywhere the week after and the smell from the arndale fish market was awful.

Although many were injured, it was unbelievable nobody was killed.

I lived 4 miles from Manchester City Centre. I was sunbathing in the back garden on the phone to a Police friend who was in work. He said everyone was on standby because some big might happen. Next moment there was a bands and all the tiles in my house rattled and the birds flew off and he said ‘got to go’. An hour later got a call to go in to work early (was in the Police at the time). Can’t believe it was 30 years ago!!!

I think that too might come as shock to younger folk – the sheer size of IRA car-bombs. That they would rattle tiles 4 miles away.

Bizarrely I don’t remember that either 🤔. And in 1992 I was temping in Manchester and one of my jobs was at the Industrial Tribunals in Parsonage Gardens where one of the bombs was placed. Strange thing memory.

I think I'm right in saying the 1996 Manchester bomb was the biggest bomb to have been detonated in Great Britain since WW2.