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The Manchester City Centre bombing was a terrorist attack in Manchester, England by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA).
It occurred at 11:20 a.m. on Saturday 15 June 1996, when the IRA detonated a bomb containing 1500kg (3300 lb) of explosives. The bomb was located in a Ford van parked two hours earlier in Corporation Street, between the Arndale Centre and the city's Marks and Spencer store, right in the heart of the city's shopping area. This was the largest IRA bomb ever detonated in Great Britain. Although warnings received in the previous hour had allowed the evacuation of the area, 206 people were recorded by the ambulance service as having been injured. Most windows in nearby buildings were blown out, and falling glass caused the majority of the injuries. The blast was audible over 8 miles (13 km) away.
Several buildings close to the epicentre of the explosion had to be demolished, and many more were closed for months afterwards to allow structural repairs. Overall, 50,000 square metres of retail space and 25,000 square metres of office space had to be reconstructed. Since then, the city centre has undergone extensive rejuvenation, along with the more general efforts to regenerate previously degenerated areas of the wider city, such as Hulme and Salford. While the bulk of the city centre rebuilding work was complete by 2000, further redevelopment of affected buildings (notably the northern corner of the Arndale Centre) did not complete until 2005.
Some have claimed the event turned out to be positive for the city, as many of the buildings demolished or extensively rebuilt were regarded as eyesores, and the resulting redevelopment of the surrounding area has generated millions of pounds of investment. Others point out that this argument is an example of the broken window fallacy, although there is general agreement among Mancunians that the city centre now is greatly improved over its prior condition; the 'broken window' idea does not adequately model redevelopment as opposed to direct repair.
A pillar box that survived the blast, despite being only yards from the centre of the explosion, now carries a small brass plaque recording the bombing (see photo above).
External links
- BBC report of the bombing
- The Manchester Bombing A further report of the bombing.
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