Memorial services were held in Birmingham, England, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the IRA’s 1974 pub bombings in the city.
On 21 November 1974, twenty-one individuals lost their lives when bombs detonated in the Mulberry Bush and Tavern in the Town pubs.
More than 180 others sustained injuries from the explosions, which occurred during a peak period of the IRA’s bombing campaign in the West Midlands of England.
A third bomb was planted near a Barclays bank on Hagley Road but failed to explode correctly that night.
A shattered bus shelter in New Street following the bombing of the two pubs.
The Birmingham Irish Association urged people to pause for a minute at 2pm to honor those who perished in the attack.
A memorial service at St Philip’s Cathedral, conducted by both the Catholic Archbishop and the Church of England Bishop of Birmingham, commenced at 5pm. The service included hymns and prayers and was open to the public.
These attacks were the deadliest strike on British soil post-World War II, until the 7/7 bombings in London in 2005.
Between 8:15pm and 8:20pm, the two bombs exploded in rapid succession, resulting in 19 fatalities on the night—eight at the Mulberry Bush, located at the base of the city’s Rotunda landmark, and two outside the venue.
The attacks were the deadliest on British soil after World War II.
Another nine individuals lost their lives in the Tavern In The Town, a sizable pub situated in the basement of the same building as the tax office, King Edward’s House.
Two additional victims succumbed to their injuries later, with 12 of the deceased being under the age of 25.
Days after the 1974 attack, six Irish men were arrested, charged, and subsequently imprisoned for the bombings.
These men became known as the Birmingham Six, and after years of advocacy from their families, friends, and supporters, their wrongful convictions were overturned in 1991.
In July 2017, Mick Hayes, a self-admitted IRA bomb maker from south Dublin, informed the BBC that he was part of the group responsible for the attacks.
However, the actual perpetrators have never been apprehended.
In 2016, a UK coroner mandated new inquests into the bombings following a campaign by the families of the 21 victims.
This inquiry occurred three years later, concluding that the victims were unlawfully killed by the IRA, but it did not identify those responsible.
