Timeline of LGBT+ History for Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire
1999 – Admiral Duncan Nail Bomb Attack
A flier created by ShropGay Health distributed in Stoke and Staffordshire
In April 1999, London was shaken by a series of three nail bomb attacks deliberately targeting minority communities. On 17 April a bomb exploded in Brixton, an area with a large Black community, followed a week later by one at the heart of London’s Bangladeshi community in Brick Lane. On 30 April a third bomb exploded inside the Admiral Duncan, a gay pub in Soho. Across these three attacks, three people were killed and more than 140 were injured. All three deaths occurred in the Admiral Duncan bombing, where Andrea Dykes, John Light and Nik Moore lost their lives.The local impact of these shocking attacks by a neo-Nazi are explored in this post.
Coverage in the Evening Sentinel
Reports tells us that the initial attacks had raised local concerns even before the third bomb exploded. Following the bombs in Brixton and Brick Lane, gay organisations had been warned that LGBT+ venues might be the next target. On the morning of 30 April, the Pink Paper contacted the North Staffordshire Gay Men’s Health Alliance (G-MHAP), warning them to be vigilant and asking them to alert the local gay community. Security had already been increased at local gay venues following a recent homophobic attack on Mike Wolfe, Chair of the North Staffordshire Lesbian and Gay Forum.
Just hours later, the third bomb exploded inside the Admiral Duncan. The following day’s Sentinel made the attack its front-page story under the headline “Gay Bar Outrage – Man Held” and reported that Mike Wolfe and other members of the Forum had visited gay venues in Hanley that evening to warn people to remain vigilant.
The warnings came at an already unsettling time for the local gay community. Mike Wolfe had himself been attacked outside a gay venue only three months earlier, an assault described locally as the “pinnacle” of anti-gay prejudice.
Clips from the Staffordshire Sentinel 1st May 1999, the day after the third bomb exploded.
Local LGBT+ Community Responses
The bombings were understood not simply as an attack on one London gay pub, but as attacks motivated by hatred of minority communities. That sense of shared outrage was also reflected in LGBT+ and HIV organisations in North Staffordshire and neighbouring areas.
Local HIV charity Staffordshire Buddies published this in Positive Lives newsletter May-June 1999. ShropGay Health, publisher of the illustrated flier, was a gay men’s health project managed by Staffordshire Buddies.
In the weeks and months that followed, further articles and comments appeared in local community publications Positive Lives and Pink Lobby. Minutes of the North Staffs Lesbian and Gay Switchboard record a local collection had been made in support of the victims of the Soho bombing.
Minutes of the North Staffs Lesbian and Gay Switchboard, 5 July 1999
Remembrance
Birmingham Daily Post 1 May 2000
The victims of the Admiral Duncan bombing were annually remembered in the years that followed. On 30 April 2000, hundreds gathered at St Anne’s Church and in Soho, where three cherry trees were dedicated to Andrea Dykes, John Light and Nik Moore. A two-minute silence was observed at 6.37pm, the time of the explosion, while three candles burned inside the Admiral Duncan. Survivors, relatives and friends continued to gather in St Anne’s Gardens on subsequent anniversaries, and a memorial bench was later installed there.
In 2009, the tenth anniversary led to the creation of 17-24-30, named after the dates of the three attacks: Brixton on 17 April, Brick Lane on 24 April and Soho on 30 April. The organisation established annual April Acts of Remembrance for the communities targeted by the bombings. These continue today, including the gathering outside the Admiral Duncan each 30 April.
Later in 2009, following the death of gay man Ian Baynham after a homophobic attack in Trafalgar Square, 17-24-30 organised the first London Vigil Against Hate Crime. More than 10,000 people attended, and further vigils followed. In 2012 these developed into National Hate Crime Awareness Week, widening the focus from individual attacks to all communities affected by hate crime while retaining remembrance at its heart. At its first national service at St Paul’s Cathedral, the National Candle of Hope and Remembrance was lit in memory of Nik Moore, one of those killed at the Admiral Duncan.
Admiral Duncan Act of Remembrance, Old Compton Street, Soho, April 2023
(Photo from Wikimedia Commons)
Find out more: Archives of National Hate Crime Awareness Week
Copyright Notice
News clippings in this post were compiled by Andrew Colclough from various archives as part of his personal research into local LGBT+ history and are shared here for educational purposes on the basis of fair personal/non commercial use. Copyright, where applicable, remains with the original publishers. Photographs are believed to be in the public domain and sources are credited where possible – please contact us if any further permissions or acknowledgments are required. All original text is © Andrew Colclough. Thank you!
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