Guildford pub bombings

The Guildford pub bombings occurred on 5 October 1974 when the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) detonated two 6-pound gelignite bombs at two pubs in Guildford, Surrey, southwest of London. The pubs were targeted because they were popular with British Army personnel stationed at the barracks in Pirbright. Four soldiers and one civilian were killed, whilst a further 65 were wounded.

The bomb in the Horse and Groom detonated at 8:30 pm. It killed Paul Craig (a 22-year-old plasterer), two members of the Scots Guards and two members of the Women's Royal Army Corps. The Seven Stars was evacuated after the first blast, and thus there were no serious injuries when the second bomb exploded at 9:00 pm.

These attacks were the first in a year-long campaign by an IRA Active Service Unit – who were eventually captured after the Balcombe Street Siege. 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. Gunner Richard Dunne and Alan Horsley, a sales clerk, died in that explosion. On the 27 August 1975 the same IRA unit detonated a bomb in Surrey at the Catheram Arms pub which injured over 30 people, Surrey police said it was " a carbon copy of the Guildford bombs".

The bombings contributed to the speedy and unchallenged passing of the Prevention of Terrorism Acts in November 1974, which were then used by the Metropolitan Police to force false confessions from the "Guildford Four".