Part of the Provisional IRA's 1974 mainland England bombing campaign, the attack injured 20 people in Bristol city centre using a deliberate 'come-on' second device.
Key Facts
- Date
- 18 December 1974
- Number of bombs
- 2
- Injuries
- 20 people
- Gap between explosions
- 9 minutes
- Distance between bombs
- 30 yards
- Location
- Park Street, Bristol city centre
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
The Provisional IRA conducted a sustained bombing campaign on the English mainland during 1974, targeting civilian areas to apply political pressure. The Bristol region was a focus of this activity, with attacks also carried out in nearby Bath and Newport around the same period.
On 18 December 1974, two bombs were detonated on Park Street in Bristol city centre. The first exploded outside Dixons Photographic shop just before 8 pm, preceded by a telephone warning. Nine minutes later, a more powerful second device hidden in a dustbin 30 yards away detonated without warning — a deliberate 'come-on' tactic intended to catch emergency responders.
The twin blasts injured 20 people. The 'come-on' tactic, already used in a London bombing weeks earlier and repeatedly in Northern Ireland, demonstrated the IRA's evolving methods on the mainland. Bristol was targeted again on 17 December 1978 in a separate IRA bombing near Maggs Department Store in Clifton, injuring at least seven people.