Admiral Duncan pub
| Admiral Duncan pub bombing | |
|---|---|
 The Admiral Duncan pub |
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| Location | Old Compton Street, Soho, London |
| Date | 30 April 1999 |
| Target | Admiral Duncan pub |
| Attack type | Nail bomb |
| Deaths | 3 |
| Injured | approximately 70 |
| Perpetrator(s) | David Copeland |
The Admiral Duncan is a pub in Old Compton Street, Soho in the heart of London's gay district. It is named after Admiral Adam Duncan, who defeated the Dutch fleet at the Battle of Camperdown in 1797.
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[edit] Bombing
On 30 April 1999, the Admiral Duncan was the scene of a bomb blast when the Neo-Nazi David Copeland, who was attempting to stir up ethnic and homophobic tensions by organising a series of bombings, detonated a nail bomb which killed three people and wounded around 70.
The dead were identified as Andrea Dykes, 27, four months pregnant; her friend, Nik Moore, 31; and John Light, 32, the best man at the wedding of Andrea and her husband, who was himself seriously injured.[1]
There is a memorial chandelier with an inscription and a plaque in the bar to memorialise those killed in the blast and the many more who were injured, several very seriously.
A large open air meeting was spontaneously organised in Soho Square the Sunday following, attended by thousands. Among the speeches was one from the Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner who undertook to maintain a crime scene van outside the pub until the perpetrator was found to take witness statement and gather evidence; and that the van would staffed entirely with openly gay and lesbian police officers. This was a turning point for the often tempestuous relationship between the LGBT community and the Metropolitan Police,
[edit] History
In December 1881 a customer received eight years penal servitude for various offences in connection with his ejection from the Admiral Duncan publichouse by keeper William Gordon.[2]
It was once in the ownership of the Scottish & Newcastle Brewery but changed hands in 2004 and is now owned by the Tattershall Castle Group.
The exterior of the bar was repainted in a black and pink motif in late 2006. In late 2005, Westminster City Council decreed that the Admiral Duncan and all other LGBT (Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender) bars and businesses that operated in its jurisdiction, including those in Soho and Covent Garden, remove their pride flags claiming that such flags constituted advertising which was forbidden in its planning laws. Businesses would be required to apply for permits to be allowed to fly flags but those businesses that did apply for permission found their applications turned down for spurious reasons. Following media allegations of homophobia in the Council, the I Love Soho campaign and intense pressure from the Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, the Council rescinded its directive and Pride Flags were once again permitted to be flown.
Bar manager David Morley, who survived the bombing, was murdered in London on 30 October 2004.[3]
[edit] External links
[edit] See also
- List of terrorist incidents
- Violence against LGBT people
- London Gay Men's Chorus (external links section)
[edit] References
- ^ On this day; BBC News
- ^ Middlesex Sessions; The Times, 29 December 1881; pg. 10; col A.
- ^ "Soho nail bomb survivor murdered". The BBC. 1 November 2004. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/3969763.stm. Retrieved 2009-02-01.
