The Guildford pub bombings occurred on 5 October 1974. The Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) planted bombs in the Horse and Groom pub on North Street, Guildford and the nearby Seven Stars pub, which killed five people and seriously injured 65. An IRA active service unit manufactured two 6 pound gelignite bombs in London. One was placed in the Horse and Groom and the other in the Seven Stars. Both pubs were popular with army personnel, and thus chosen as targets by the IRA.
The bomb in the Horse and Groom caused the most casualties when it detonated without warning at 8.30 p.m. Paul Craig, a 22-year old plasterer and four off-duty teenage soldiers of the Scots Guards and the Women’s Royal Army Corps were killed in the blast. The Seven Stars was evacuated after the first blast, and so nobody was seriously hurt in the explosion there at 9.00 p.m.
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