Bishopsgate Bomb, 24 April 1993

This photograph of the immediate aftermath of the Bishopsgate Bomb of 24 April 1993 was taken by John Smith, Police Officer of the City of London, who was the first to arrive on the scene after the explosion. The one tonne bomb had been planted by the IRA in a stolen truck parked outside the HSBC offices on 99 Bishopsgate. It caused extensive damage to buildings along a ca. 500 metre stretch of the road and led to the collapse of the medieval church of St Ethelburga’s opposite 99 Bishopsgate. John Smith took this photo looking south in Bishopsgate toward the junction with Wormwood Street and he printed it that same day. The water from the burst water main is still spurting into the air at the site of the explosion.

The bomb killed one person – a photojournalist who had rushed to the scene – and injured 44 people. Hundreds of windows from surrounding office buildings were shattered with glass and paperwork showering down onto the streets below. In the aftermath, ‘clear desk policies’ were implemented as thousands of pages of confidential client information had been blown out across the City. The bomb was also a turning point in the City of London’s approach to security and the subsequent fortification of the City with the ‘Ring of Steel’ designed to detect and deter terrorists.