A Provisional IRA bomb detonated inside the London Stock Exchange with no casualties due to an advance telephone warning, causing major structural damage.
Key Facts
- Date
- 20 July 1990
- Bomb weight
- 5 to 10 lb (2.3 to 4.5 kg)
- Warning time before explosion
- 40 minutes
- Hole blown in Stock Exchange Tower
- 10 feet
- Casualties
- None
- Gallery closure
- Visitors' gallery closed permanently in 1992
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
The Provisional IRA, engaged in a campaign of bombings targeting British economic and symbolic institutions, planted a high-explosive device inside the London Stock Exchange building in the City of London. The attack was part of a broader strategy to cause economic disruption and draw international attention to the IRA's campaign.
On the morning of 20 July 1990, a 5 to 10 lb bomb of high explosives detonated inside the London Stock Exchange Tower. The IRA issued a telephone warning 40 minutes before the blast, prompting evacuation of the building and surrounding area, so no one was injured. The explosion blew a 10-foot hole in the tower and caused extensive damage to the first-floor visitors' gallery.
The bomb caused massive structural damage, particularly to the visitors' gallery on the first floor, which had been the site of the planted device in the adjacent men's toilets. The gallery and public viewing area were closed in 1992 as a direct result of the damage and subsequent security concerns, ending public access to the trading floor.