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A pub bombing or a public house bombing is an attack on a pub or public house using explosives and other bombing making material like nails, bolts & screws & similar objects which can cause horrific injuries when the bomb detonates. The Provisional IRA's Balcombe Street Gang used bolts & screws in many of their bomb attacks. Neo-nazi David Copeland used nails in his bombs which cause horrific injury.

Types

There are several ways of delivering the bomb to its intended target. Some of these methods include, the bombers hide a time bomb in something like a bag or holdall, walk into a pub & blend in with the crowd and draw as little attention to themselves as possible and will place the bomb in an unnoticeable spot, the bombers will usually leave at least 10 minutes before the bomb detonates so they are safe away from the blast & can give themselves time to get away, if the intention was causing harm to people then the bomb is usually laden with shrapnel to cause maximum casualties, if the intention is just to cause destruction then the bombers will usually leave between 45 minutes - 1 hour before the bomb detonates so they can give the police a warning so that the building has enough time to be evacuated. Early Loyalist bombs were quite crude and usually they would involve just lighting a fuse on a bomb, and either opening the door of a pub and simply throwing the bomb in and running away, or just leaving the bomb at the front door, or sometimes the side of the building, then lite the fuse and run away. Or by building a fragmentaton grenade which is small but heavy enough to throw through a public house window, this method was usually favoured by the Balcombe Street Gang who carried out several pub bombings in England in the mid 1970s.

History

The vast majority of pub bombings were carried out during Northern Ireland's "Troubles" conflict. The attacks were carried out by Irish republican & Ulster loyalist paramilitary groups, such as the Republican Provisional IRA (PIRA) & Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) and the Loyalist Ulster Volunteer Force UVF & Ulster Freedom Fighters (UFF). There were some pub bombings carried out by other European urban guerrilla movements around the same period.

One of the first if not the first pub bombings of the Northern Ireland the Troubles was the PIRA bombing of the Bluebell Bar in the Sandy Row area of Belfast a staunchly loyalist, Protestant area of Belfast. Almost 30 people were injured in this bombing which occurred on the 20 September 1971.[1] A few weeks later the Loyalists carried out their first pub bombing when the UVF bombed what they believed to be a Republican owned pub called the Fiddler's House Bar on the 9 October 1971, to were hoping to hurt Catholics but instead killed a middle aged Protestant women & injured several others.[2]

The worst pub bombing in Northern Ireland happened early on in the conflict. The McGurk's Bar bombing which was carried out by the UVF claimed the lives of 15 civilians & 17 others were badly injured.[3] At the time it was the highest death toll from any attack in the North, until the PIRA's Warrenpoint ambush which killed 18 people in August 1979.

The worst pub bombing in the UK was the Birmingham pub bombings of the 21 November 1974. 21 people were killed and 182 others were injured many of the seriously. It was the PIRA's worst attack of the conflict in terms of civilian deaths and it was the highest death toll from a pub bombing during the conflict.[4]

The worst pub bombing attack in the Republic of Ireland during the conflict was the bombing at Kay's Tavern which occurred in Dundalk in County Louth. Two people were killed in this attack and 20 more injured. The Red Hand Commando (RHC) a UVF link group claimed they carried out the attack, it is believed the UVF linked group carried out the attack with help from rogue British security forces.[5]

During the 70s, loyalists stepped up their bombing campaign against pubs and it was said they were helped allegedly by the security forces, in an alliance of UVF, UDR, UDA, RUC, RUC Special Branch, RUC Special Patrol Group & a small number of British soldiers. Between 1973 and 1977 they bombed a long list of pubs & other places.

According to journalist Anne Cadwallader just "some of the attacks in the 74 - 75 period was the height of their campaign which also included not just bomb attacks but shootings as well, known as "spray jobs" in Northern Ireland. The group these people belonged to was the infamous Glenanne gang.

  • 1 - 17 January 1974: Daniel Hughes was shot dead in a UVF gun attack on Boyle's Bar, Cappagh.
  • 2 - 14 February 1974: The Glenanne Gang attack Traynors bar leaves Patrick Molloy & Jack Whylie.
  • 3 - 29 November 1974 - A loyalist bomb explodes at a bar called Hughe's Bar in Newry, fatally injuries John Mallon, and in another bomb attack on McArdles Bar, near Crossmaglen injuring Thomas McNamme who died less than a year later.
  • 4 - 10 February 1975 - The UVF attack Haydebs Bar and they killed Eugene Doyle & Arthur Mullholland.
  • 5 - 27 April 1975 - a loyalist gang attacked Bleary Dart's club and kill three people, Joe Toman, Brendan O'Hara and John Feeney were all killed playing a game of darts.
  • 6 - 4 September 1975 - The UVF attacked McCann's bar near Ballyagan killing Margaret Hale in the attack.
  • 7 - 22 August 1975 - The UVF and probably accompanied by the likes of corrupt Glenanne gang followers. Destroys the bar, "McGleenan's Bar" , after the explosion many were injured and some lost legs & limbs in the attack, John McGleenan,Patrick Hughes & Thomas Morris were all murdred.
  • 8 - 19 December 1976 - The UVF planted a car bomb right outside a pub in Dundalk and it exploded killing 2 people & injured 22 others.
  • 9 - 17 March 1976 the UVF planted a large car bomb outside a bar called the Hillcrest Bar,on St. Patrick's Day. The UVF car bomb explodes, and killed Andrew Small, Patrick Baranard, Joe Kelly, James McChauey, - many more were injured.
  • 10 - 16 August 1976 - The Step Inn pub in Keady, Armagh is bombed by members of the Glenanne gang, killing Betty McDonald and Gerard McGleenan.

[6]

The reason pub bombings were so common during the Troubles was because pubs were a regular place for people to gather socially in Ireland and Britain and they were easy targets to injure or kill a large number of people in one go. In other European countries a cafe or nightclub would have been more of a target for guerrillas rather than a public house.

Notable pub bombings

Year Event Location Perpetrator(s) Deaths Injuries Comments
1971 Red Lion Pub bombing Belfast, Northern Ireland Provisional IRA 3 30 Part of IRA campaign
1971 McGurk's Bar bombing Belfast, Northern Ireland Ulster Volunteer Force 15 17 Part of UVF campaign
1972 Benny's Bar bombing Belfast, Northern Ireland Ulster Freedom Fighters 2 12 Part of UFF/UDA campaign
1972 Capitol Bar in Belfast bombing Belfast, Northern Ireland Ulster Freedom Fighters 1 12 Part of UFF campaign.[7]
1972 Hole In The Wall pub attack County Donegal, Republic of Ireland Ulster Freedom Fighters 0 0 Part of UFF/UDA campaign. UDA members ordered everybody out of the pub & then badly damaged it with a grenade
1973 Stage Door public house bomb London, England Provisional IRA 0 1 Part of IRA England campaign
1973 North Star public house bomb London, England Provisional IRA 0 6 Part of IRA England campaign
1973 Cloughfin car bomb County Donegal, Republic of Ireland Ulster Freedom Fighters 1 0 Part of UFF/UDA campaign. A UFF member died when the bomb he was priming exploded prematurely outside Kirk's Bar in Cloughfin, Donegal.[8]
1974 Rose & Crown Bar bombing Belfast, Northern Ireland Ulster Volunteer Force 6 18 Part of UVF campaign
1974 Guildford pub bombings Surrey, England Provisional IRA 5 65 Part of IRA England campaign. First attack carried out by the IRA's Balcombe Street Gang between October 1974 - December 1975
1974 Woolwich pub bombing London, England Provisional IRA 2 40 Part of IRA England campaign
1974 Talbot Arms pub bombing London, England Provisional IRA 0 8 Part of IRA England campaign
1974 Birmingham pub bombings Birmingham, England Provisional IRA 21 182 Part of IRA England campaign
1975 Mountainview Tavern bombing 1975 Belfast, Northern Ireland Provisional IRA 5 50 - 60 Part of IRA campaign
1975 1975 Conway's Bar attack Belfast, Northern Ireland Ulster Volunteer Force 2 15 Part of UVF campaign
1975 Bayardo Bar attack Belfast, Northern Ireland Provisional IRA 5 50 - 60 Part of IRA campaign
1975 Strand Bar bombing Belfast, Northern Ireland Ulster Volunteer Force 6 50 Part of UVF campaign
1975 Caterham Arms pub bombing Surrey, England Provisional IRA 0 33 Part of IRA England campaign
1975 Hare & Hounds pub bombing Kent, England Provisional IRA 0 2 Part of IRA England campaign[9]
1975 Biddy Mulligan's pub bombing London, England Ulster Freedom Fighters 0 5 Part of UDA/UFF campaign
1975 Donnelly's Bar and Kay's Tavern attacks Dundalk, Republic of Ireland Ulster Volunteer Force 2 21 Part of UVF campaign (1st part of double attack)
1975 1975 Central Bar bombing County Down, Northern Ireland Irish National Liberation Army INLA 3 30 Carried out by INLA members using the covername "People's Republican Army"
1976 1976 Step Inn pub bombing County Armagh, Northern Ireland Ulster Volunteer Force 2 20 Part of UVF campaign. One of a number attacks carried out by the Glenanne Gang around the Irish border between 1972 - 1977
1976 Hillcrest Bar bombing County Tyrone, Northern Ireland Ulster Volunteer Force 4 50 Part of UVF campaign
1976 Castleblayney bombing County Monaghan, Ireland Ulster Volunteer Force 1 17 A car bomb exploded outside the Three Star Inn pub, Part UVF campaign
1979 Glasgow pub bombings Glasgow, Scotland Ulster Volunteer Force 0 8 Part of UVF campaign
1982 Droppin Well bombing Ballykelly, County Londonderry, Northern Ireland Irish National Liberation Army INLA 17 30 Bombing against British soldiers
1982 Pub Saint-Germain bombing Paris, France The Orly Group 0 2 Campaign by ASALA to "compel the Turkish Government to acknowledge publicly its responsibility for the Armenian Genocide in 1915, pay reparations, and cede territory for an Armenian homeland"[10]
1992 Sussex Arms pub bombing London, England Provisional IRA 1 7 Part of IRA England campaign
1999 Admiral Duncan (pub) nail bombing Soho, London, England Neo-Nazi David Copeland 3 70 Neo-Nazi terrorist hate campaign, many people injured badly from shrapnel & nails, some lost limbs.
2003 Mike's Place suicide bombing Tel Aviv, Israel Hamas and Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades affiliated UK citizens 3 50 Part of Second Intifada

Pub shootings

Another attack unique to The Troubles in Ireland was paramilitaries shooting customers inside public houses. This tactic was mainly used by the Loyalist paramilitaries during the later stages of the conflict but sometimes Republicans carried them out as well. Usually the shooting would include a 3 - 4 member active service unit, one member acting as a getaway driver, one as a lookout and two as shooters, usually one of the shooters would use a machine gun or automatic rifle to spray the pub with gunfire, and the other shooter would use a smaller gun like a pistol or revolver to shoot any customer who tried to attack or stop the main shooter. Some instances of pub shootings include...

Year Event Location Perpetrator(s) Deaths Injuries Comments
1972 Top of the Hill bar shooting Derry, Northern Ireland Ulster Freedom Fighters 5 4 Part of UDA/UFF campaign. Also known as Annie's Bar massacre
1975 Kay's Tavern attack Armagh, Northern Ireland Ulster Volunteer Force / Red Hand Commando 3 5 Part of UVF campaign. Second part of a double attack. Linked to Glenanne gang
1976 Eagles Bar shooting Armagh, Northern Ireland Ulster Volunteer Force 1 4 Part of UVF campaign. First part of a double attack. Linked to Glenanne gang
1976 Chlorane Bar attack Belfast, Northern Ireland Ulster Volunteer Force 5 8 Part of UVF campaign.
1976 The Store Bar shooting Antrim, Northern Ireland Provisional IRA 3 6 Claimed as revenge by Republican Action Force for Chlorane Bar attack
1976 Ramble Inn attack Antrim, Northern Ireland Ulster Volunteer Force 5 6 Part of UVF campaign
1988 Avenue Bar shooting Belfast, Northern Ireland Ulster Volunteer Force 3 6 Part of UVF campaign
1989 Orange Cross Social Club shooting Belfast, Northern Ireland Irish People's Liberation Organisation (IPLO) 1 5 Part of IPLO campaign. Red Hand Commando member killed
1991 1991 Cappagh killings Tyrone, Northern Ireland Ulster Volunteer Force 4 1 Part of UVF campaign. 3 IRA members killed
1991 Donegall Arms shooting Belfast, Northern Ireland Irish People's Liberation Organisation 2 5 Part of IPLO campaign.
1993 Greysteel massacre Derry, Northern Ireland Ulster Freedom Fighters 8 19 Part of UDA/UFF campaign.
1994 Loughinisland massacre County Down, Northern Ireland Ulster Volunteer Force 6 5 Part of UVF campaign. Also known as the World Cup massacre

See Also

Further reading

References

  1. ^ "The Troubles 7". Issuu.
  2. ^ "CAIN: Sutton Index of Deaths". cain.ulster.ac.uk.
  3. ^ Joe Graham, Rushlight Magazine. "McGurk's Bar Massacre". Retrieved 30 January 2015.
  4. ^ "1974: Birmingham pub blasts remembered". BBC News. 21 November 1974.
  5. ^ https://www.talkofthetown.ie/tag/kays-tavern/
  6. ^ Anne Cadwallader - Lethal Allies: British Collusion in Ireland p.13, 14
  7. ^ https://cain.ulster.ac.uk/victims/humanface/chron/1972.html
  8. ^ http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/victims/humanface/chron/1973.html
  9. ^ https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-kent-34350767
  10. ^ http://www.ataa.org/reference/myth/chronology.html
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