| Partof: | the Troubles |
| 1974 Bristol bombing | |
| Location: | Bristol, England |
| Date: | 18 December 1974 |
| Time: | 7:54 pm |
| Timezone: | UTC |
| Type: | Bombing |
| Fatalities: | 0 |
| Injuries: | 20 |
| Perp: | Provisional Irish Republican Army |
The 1974 Bristol bombing was a twin bomb attack carried out by the Provisional IRA in a shopping street in Bristol city centre on 18 December 1974. A bomb was placed in a holdall outside Dixons Photographic shop on Park Street which exploded just before 8 pm. Nine minutes later another more powerful bomb detonated in a dustbin 30 yards away.[1] The blasts injured 20 people and was part of the IRA's bombing campaign in England. The IRA gave a telephone warning for the first bomb but not the second one.[2]
The "come-on" tactic of a second bomb was used weeks before in a bombing in London and had been used many times before in Northern Ireland.
The region was targeted by the IRA for a time. Eight days before Bristol, a bomb exploded in England at The Corridor in Bath, causing severe damage. Four days later a bomb exploded in Newport, South Wales.[3] On 17 December 1978 Bristol was targeted by the IRA again in a bombing near Maggs Department Store in Clifton that injured at least seven people.[4]