The IRA bomb in Manchester; 15th June 1996.

Amazing how time flies. Looking back I remember it being in the middle of Euro 96 which must have caused a huge problem for the authorities.

Fortunately nobody was killed and the resulting re build of the city centre improved Manchester considerably.

Same day as England V Scotland at Wembley.

Times change and I don’t imagine that game would have gone ahead today.

I was there in Manchester the very next day to watch (West) Germany I think it was against Russia.
I don't know what time the bomb was set off but if the game we watched had have been played the previous day then almost certainly we would have been inside the Trafford centre having something to eat and drink before the game.

Weirdly one of the best things to happen to Manchester.

One of my sisters had left the city centre about 10mins before they started evacuating the city centre.

Just googled the attack and I didn't realise there was a memorial plaque on a post box there that survived the explosion despite being just yards away from the explosion.

Was in London for the England game and the 1 memory I still have from the bombing was the woman on the news and in the papers fleeing the area in her wedding dress.

GodIsADeeJay81 wrote: ↑

Tue Jun 15, 2021 4:18 pm

Weirdly one of the best things to happen to Manchester.

One of my sisters had left the city centre about 10mins before they started evacuating the city centre.

Just googled the attack and I didn't realise there was a memorial plaque on a post box there that survived the explosion despite being just yards away from the explosion.

This is a photo I took a few years ago, unfortunately I didn't take a close up of the plaque although from memory it says about it being removed during the rebuilding and reinstated in November 1999.

I would have been in Manchester that day with my wife and then 5 week old son but I was asked to work the Saturday morning at around 4pm. Who knows what would've happened had my boss not asked...

mkmel wrote: ↑

Tue Jun 15, 2021 4:15 pm

I was there in Manchester the very next day to watch (West) Germany I think it was against Russia.
I don't know what time the bomb was set off but if the game we watched had have been played the previous day then almost certainly we would have been inside the Trafford centre having something to eat and drink before the game.

At least you'd have been about 10 miles from the blast

I worked just a short walk away. I was in work when the previous bomb went off in 1992 which was not too bad although I wasn’t allowed to return to my car and to leave it overnight.

The one in 1996 was on a Saturday so I was at home but how no one was killed was a miracle. Totally agree that it ultimate improved the city centre although all those wonderful arty farty stalls in the corn exchange were lost.

My brother was a volunteer for the tournament. He was in some offices near the blast when the bomb went off. Thankfully nothing more than shattered glass, knocked over tables etc.

ClaretTony wrote: ↑

Tue Jun 15, 2021 5:17 pm

I worked just a short walk away. I was in work when the previous bomb went off in 1992 which was not too bad although I wasn’t allowed to return to my car and to leave it overnight.

The one in 1996 was on a Saturday so I was at home but how no one was killed was a miracle. Totally agree that it ultimate improved the city centre although all those wonderful arty farty stalls in the corn exchange were lost.

There was a great record stall in the Corn Exchange

TheFamilyCat wrote: ↑

Tue Jun 15, 2021 6:04 pm

There was a great record stall in the Corn Exchange

Used to love the Corn Exchange back then. Probably the same record stall I spent time looking though. Some great little shops.
Used to get my Viz T-Shirts there too. .

Mindless

TheFamilyCat wrote: ↑

Tue Jun 15, 2021 6:04 pm

There was a great record stall in the Corn Exchange

There was. I used to spend many a lunch hour wandering in there.

I lived in London and was about to go Christmas shopping in Harrods when the London bomb went off. If the bus from Clapham had been a few minutes earlier, my life might have been very different.

Grumps wrote: ↑

Tue Jun 15, 2021 5:16 pm

At least you'd have been about 10 miles from the blast

He'd have been sat on waste land, wasn't built till 98.

LoveCurryPies wrote: ↑

Tue Jun 15, 2021 7:15 pm

I lived in London and was about to go Christmas shopping in Harrods when the London bomb went off. If the bus from Clapham had been a few minutes earlier, my life might have been very different.

I was living in Bucks and due to go to London the day of the bombings. They postponed it the night before. Still think what might have been as my meeting was by Tavistock Square.

groove wrote: ↑

Tue Jun 15, 2021 7:16 pm

He'd have been sat on waste land, wasn't built till 98.

Definitely improved the city centre. I lived there and went through the city centre everyday on my way to school in Salford and it was in need of restoration and planning even back then in the 1960's. Where I lived in North Manchester with a relative was a.bloody hovel reminiscent of Dickensian times. Should have put another bomb there and cleared it.

Buxtonclaret wrote: ↑

Tue Jun 15, 2021 6:40 pm

Used to love the Corn Exchange back then. Probably the same record stall I spent time looking though. Some great little shops.
Used to get my Viz T-Shirts there too. .

They always had lots of bootlegs and promos. Could never afford anything but loved a browse after spending my couple of quid on stuff I'd found in the bargain crates under the racks in Vinyl Exchange.

Working in an Irish pub in London at the time , trust me not a great time to be Irish .

Tribesmen wrote: ↑

Tue Jun 15, 2021 7:48 pm

Working in an Irish pub in London at the time , trust me not a great time to be Irish .

Not a great time to be doing a bit of Saturday morning shopping then either.

It was parked up non primed it was thought at the time that it was either left as a warning or the IRA cocked up but someone started messing with the thing and started the timer mechanism.

Padiham Glass did very well out of it I recall..

I was told at the time that McDonalds in the area had installed bomb proof glass a week before it went off.
Had the nod.

They were big donors to the IRA in the USA.

I boycotted for quite a few years because of it.

Quickenthetempo wrote: ↑

Tue Jun 15, 2021 8:45 pm

I was told at the time that McDonalds in the area had installed bomb proof glass a week before it went off.
Had the nod.

They were big donors to the IRA in the USA.

I boycotted for quite a few years because of it.

Sounds legit.

tim_noone wrote: ↑

Tue Jun 15, 2021 8:17 pm

Padiham Glass did very well out of it I recall..

Most trades will have done.

I remember Scaffolders wages doubling overnight. The City centre project needed hundreds of lads and were offering 95/100 a day when local lads were getting about 50.
Firms had to match to keep their lads.

I was either incredibly lucky or unlucky depending on your view with 1990s bombings. I worked in Warrington in 1993 when the first IRA bomb went off in the early hours at the gas storage plant and managed to get into work through the confusion about 2 hours later.

I was then at the other end of Bridge street on the 20th March when the second bomb went off at Saturday lunchtime.

On the morning of the Manchester bomb I’d got up early to get into and out of Manchester for a quick shopping trip, so I was home well before the game v Scotland.

I was up the road in Broughton, just about half a mile past where the McDonalds and Tim Hortons is now on your way out of Manchester on the x43, and it sounded like a gas main had gone off next door, then we saw the plume of smoke

LoveCurryPies wrote: ↑

Tue Jun 15, 2021 7:15 pm

I lived in London and was about to go Christmas shopping in Harrods when the London bomb went off. If the bus from Clapham had been a few minutes earlier, my life might have been very different.

Burnley won 4-1 on the day of the Harrods bombing
I saved my future wife’s life by lying and saying I didn’t know where Harrods was

We had been shopping down Oxford St and took the bags back to the hotel and heard loads of sirens but didn’t know what was going on
BurnleyFC and Real Ale official lifesavers

Remember it vividly. I was at university in Salford studying music. We had been in the recording studios in the basement of the university building when the bomb went off and didn’t hear a thing despite just being a fairly short walk away from the city centre. The first we knew about it was when we finished recording and we’re heading off into town. My then girlfriend (now wife) was headed back up to Chorlton St Bus station from London and got diverted to Manchester airport where she had to get a taxi back to our flat. Strange day.

I was in Manchester with mates just a couple of days before this for the B&H semi final, Lancashire beat Yorkshire with the last ball. It was a rain delayed game, no play on day 1 until late afternoon so we had to go back the following day to see the conclusion. We spent most of the first day in the bar, had a walk around OT football ground and then more ale in the city centre. I remember at the end of the first day on the bus home, going past the Royal Exchange and Sue NIcholls (Audrey Roberts in Corrie) walked out. 3 days later the whole city centre was devastated.