Brook's Club bombing

The Brook's Club bomb attack occurred on 22 October 1974 on St James's Street in London. Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) volunteers threw a 5 lb (2.27 kg) bomb into an empty dining room causing extensive damage and injuring three members of staff of the Brook's gentlemans club.

Brook's Club bomb attack
Part of the Troubles
LocationBrook's, St James's Street, London
Date22 October 1974
22:00 (GMT)
Attack type
Throw Bomb
Deaths0
Injured3
PerpetratorProvisional IRA

Background

The Northern Ireland Troubles had been raging since August 1969. The IRA launched an all out offensive campaign against the Northern Ireland state in February 1971, attacking British soldiers, police officers, Loyalist paramilitaries Unionist politicians, what they saw as economic & establishment targets and drug dealers. In 1972 the IRA started using car bombs on a regular basis to attack military barracks and economic targets. In March 1973 the IRA attacked in England for the first time when they exploded two car bombs in the middle of London, one just outside the Old Bailey and the other just of Whitehall, one person was killed and 250 others were injured from the two bombings, the highest injury toll at that point from a bombing in Ireland or Britain since The Troubles began in 1969.

Brook's Club was situated on St. James Street, just 400 yards away from the Army and Navy Club that the IRA had attacked two weeks earlier.[1]

Bombing

At around 22:00 an IRA volunteer threw a 5 lb bomb with a short lit fuse through a glass window into the outer dining room area of Brook's called the anteroom. Three staff members of Brook's were in the room next door to the anteroom cleaning up, on hearing the smashing of glass, they rushed in to see what caused the noise, as soon as they entered the room the bomb exploded causing serious injury to two of the three staff & causing minor injury to the third. The worst injures were inflicted on one wine waiter who had to have a part of his left leg amputated, while another had a lump of metal from an object inside the room blown into his left leg.[2] [3] The dining room was wrecked and some rooms near the dining room suffered small damage. Former British Prime Minister Edward Heath, who had been eating his dinner nearby, was one of the first people on the scene. In relation to the bomb being meant for Heath himself he said: "I don't think it was meant for me. I didn't decide to have dinner out until a quarter of an hour before". He went on to say: "There is a lot of damage, the ceiling is down in one room and it is a shambles."[4]

This was the first ever throw bomb attack by the IRA in England. Police were confused about how the IRA actually detonated the bomb. Commander Robert Hardy of Scotland Yard who said: "It may well have been placed from the inside rather than the outside by someone who may have had access. There is always a possibility it could have been thrown."[4]

Aftermath

Two days later on 24 October, the IRA struck again with another 5 lb bomb this time against a cottage in the grounds of Harrow School. Nobody was hurt in the bombing. This was the sixth bomb attack the IRA carried out in October 1974 and in those six attacks five people were killed and 70 injured.[5]

References
  1. Steven P. Moysey, The Road to Balcombe Street - The IRA Reign of Terror in London: Second Edition pg.99 (ISBN 978-0-7890-2913-3)
  2. Steven P. Moysey, The Road to Balcombe Street - The IRA Reign of Terror in London: Second Edition pg.99,100 (ISBN 978-0-7890-2913-3)
  3. Gordon McKie (2015-01-28). British Clubs and Societies: An A-Z. Books.google.ie. p. 25. Retrieved 2016-12-17.
  4. "BBC ON THIS DAY | 22 | 1974: Bomb blast in London club". BBC News. 1966-10-22. Retrieved 2016-12-17.
  5. "CAIN: Chronology of the Conflict 1974". Cain.ulst.ac.uk. Retrieved 2016-12-17.

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