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Home > Surrey > Guildford > Horse & Groom

Horse & Groom

Date of photo: 1974

Picture source: Hania Franek


 
The Horse & Groom was situated at 9 North Street. This pub was damaged in the 1974 Guildford bombings. Subsequently reopened, it closed again in the 1990s. It is now an empty shop.
 

 
From Wikipedia:
In 1974, a number of pubs in Guildford town centre were known to be "army pubs", frequented by military personnel stationed in the area. These included the Horse & Groom on North Street, The Seven Stars in Swan Lane, and the Three Pigeons on the High Street. The Provisional IRA Army Council had authorised attacks in England at a meeting in 1973, and army pubs were viewed as soft military targets.
The bomb in the Horse & Groom, thought to have been planted by a "courting couple" who have never been identified, detonated at 8.30pm, killing a civilian (Paul Craig), two members of the Scots Guards (William Forsyth and John Hunter) and two members of the Women's Royal Army Corps (Privates Ann Hamilton and Caroline Slater). The Seven Stars was evacuated after the first blast, and a second bomb exploded at 9pm while the pub landlord and his wife were searching the pub. The landlord sustained a fractured skull and his wife a broken leg, and five members of staff and one customer who had just stepped outside received less serious injuries.
These attacks were the first in a year-long campaign by an IRA active service unit who became known as the Balcombe Street Gang – whom police arrested in December 1975 after the Balcombe Street siege leading to their trial and conviction for other murders and offences. A similar bomb to those used in Guildford, with the addition of shrapnel, was thrown into the Kings Arms pub in Woolwich on 7 November 1974. A soldier and a civilian died in that explosion.
The Guildford bombings occurred only five days before the October 1974 United Kingdom general election. As all parties felt obliged to respond to the events, they contributed to the speedy and unchallenged passing of the Prevention of Terrorism Acts in November 1974.
 

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Other Photos

Picture source: Darkstar