Talbot Arms pub bombing

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Coordinates: 51°29′57″N 0°08′57″W / 51.4993°N 0.1493°W / 51.4993; -0.1493
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Talbot Arms pub bombing
Part of
UTC)
TargetBritish establishment
Attack type
2 thrown bombs
Deaths0
Injured8
PerpetratorProvisional Irish Republican Army
2008 photograph of the Talbot Arms, now called the Talbot
The Talbot Arms, Little Chester Street, as seen in 2008, renamed The Talbot

The Talbot Arms pub bombing took place on 30 November 1974, and was carried out by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA). Eight people were injured in the attack, which involved the IRA throwing homemade bombs through the pub's window. Only one of the devices exploded; the other was taken as evidence and used to discover how the unit assembled its devices.

Background

The attack came on the back of a string of IRA operations in England.

British government had passed the Prevention of Terrorism Act. At the time described as “draconian”, it banned the IRA in Britain and gave the police unprecedented peacetime powers.[3]

Location

The Talbot Arms pub has been described as then being a family friendly hostelry situated in Little Chester Street, a small mews in the upper-class area of Belgravia, Central London.[4] It was, one recent commentator observed, "ideally situated" for the IRA's purposes, as it attracted "little or no passing traffic".[4]

Attack

The attack on the Talbot Arms pub happened at around 10:00pm on the night of 30 November 1974, when the pub had there were approximately 70 customers inside.

Royal Armament and Research Development Establishment[4] deconstructed it and judged it to be a carbon copy of that used in the Woolwich bombing three weeks earlier.[9] It was considered the biggest breakthrough the police had enjoyed up until then.[5] The day after the bombing, Special Branch detained a number of suspects,[9] although these were to have, commented McKee and Franey, "no effect at all" on the IRA's campaign.[5]

Later events

The attack on the Talbot Arms was followed by further attacks with throwing-bombs; a month later, only about 200 yards (180 m) around the corner from the pub, in Wilton Street, the IRA attempted to bomb the London flat of Prime Minister, Edward Heath, but missed him by 10 minutes. By August the following year the IRA had returned to the tactic of time bomb rather than manually throwing devices as at the Talbot Arms attack—when they bombed the Caterham Arms pub.[10] Although many senior Sinn Féin men and republican symapthisers were arrested under the PTA following the attack on the Talbot Arms, Moysey has noted that "the ASU, safe in their anonymity, had no such concern", and continued their planned campaign.[4]

See also

References

  1. ^ "CAIN: Chronology of the Conflict 1974". cain.ulster.ac.uk.
  2. ^ "CAIN: Chronology of the Conflict 1974". cain.ulster.ac.uk.
  3. ^ "6 Hurt by Bomb Thrown in Bar Near Irish Embassy in London". The New York Times. 1 December 1974.
  4. ^
    ISBN 978-1-317-85607-8
    .
  5. ^
    OCLC 993287445
    .
  6. ^ "Prevention of Terrorism Legislation (Hansard, 4 March 1993)". api.parliament.uk.
  7. ^ "United Kingdom: First Day Of Britain's Campaign Against Ira Terror Bombs Ends With Double Bombing Raid On London Pub, And Police At Guildford Arrest Man For Murder In Bomb Attack On Pub Two Months Ago. 1974". British Pathe. Retrieved 12 April 2022.
  8. ^ "CAIN: Chronology of the Conflict 1974". cain.ulster.ac.uk.
  9. ^ a b "CAIN: HMSO: Prevention of Terrorism (Temporary Provisons) Act 1974". cain.ulster.ac.uk.
  10. ISBN 978-1-317-85607-8
    .

51°29′57″N 0°08′57″W / 51.4993°N 0.1493°W / 51.4993; -0.1493

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