It was ten years ago today that the IRA exploded a 3,300lb bomb in the centre of Manchester. Pictures below show the destruction in Corporation Street and the way the street looks now after several years’ rebuilding. 200 people were injured as police tried to evacuate the area. I was several miles away at the time but still heard the explosion. The truck containing the bomb was parked just by the postbox which nevertheless survived intact (well, they are made of cast iron).
Despite the devastation, most people now agree that the IRA did the city a favour by forcing large-scale rebuilding of an area spoiled by the bad retail architecture of the 1960s. The city would have changed over time anyway, it always has (and, indeed, still is); the bomb acted as a catalyst that forced the pace of that change.
Interesting
I wonder what the New York skyline will look like when they finally replace the World Trade Centre Towers with whatever they’ve chosen.
Please do visit my website at http://www.rebuildingmanchester.co.uk.
Rebuilding Manchester is the most definitive online resource covering the rebuilding of the city, with over 1,000 photographs.
With thanks – Euan
im an irish citizen and feel that what we did was the right thing to do
Terrorism is NEVER the right thing to do no matter what your excuse your harming innosent people, my parents where in mancester at the time but luckily out of the bomb area (i was in Bolton with my grandparents) Manchester does look a lot better now but is made of glass another bomb would cause a lot more dammage.
To James King – you would not be saying the same thing if you or your family were hurt in the blast. The ‘right’ thing to do was to set up talks