'Pure carnage' - Witnesses describe Birmingham pub bombings in their own words

Fifty years ago this week, Birmingham was rocked by one of the darkest nights in its history. On November 21, 1974, two IRA bombs exploded in crowded pubs in the city centre - the Mulberry Bush and Tavern in the Town.

The blasts killed 21 people and injured nearly 200 others. But the attacks did not only cause a devastating loss of life that night; they cast a shadow of grief and anger over the city which remains as painful today as it did 50 years ago.

To this day, campaigners continue to fight for the truth about what really happened that night. To mark the 50th anniversary of the bombings, survivors, witnesses, and emergency responders share their memories of that night in their own words - the chaos, fear, and heroism - and reflect on how the tragedy has shaped their lives.

READ MORE: The chilling 10 second phone call that changed Birmingham forever

*Some of the quotes below contain details which some readers may find distressing*

'A man had his legs blown off - I didn't know if he was dead or alive'

Former PC Derek Bradbury was the first policeman to enter the Mulberry Bush pub after the IRA bomb attack. In the 2019 inquest into the bombings, he described the 'pure carnage' he witnessed.

"There was a woman staggering about towards me," he said. "She wasn't screaming, but moaning, and saying 'I have been hurt.

"She was holding her stomach and there was not much of her stomach left really."

Mr Bradbury then described seeing a man who had had his legs blown to pieces, not knowing if he was dead or alive. The jury at the inquest heard how Derek made repeated trips in and out of the pub, removing six bodies from the wreckage.

'The hospital ran out of anaesthetic before they could stitch my wounds'

John Ashurst was injured by the explosion at the Mulberry Bush while he was travelling on a passing bus. His wife also narrowly involved being blinded in the shrapnel-ridden bus.

"I was looking at the Mulberry Bush and I had just seen the front of it disintegrate and fly towards the bus," he said in a statement to the Birmingham pub bombings inquest jury. "The wife looked at me and it is a good job she did because she had got a lot of glass in her head and there was a hole in the side of her face where the glass went through."

He continued: "Anyway, all this debris flew at the bus, then the blast hit the bus and it rocked. I looked at her and seen all the blood on her head and there was an old lady sitting by me, and she had a lot of blood running from her head and face."

While getting treated for his wounds at the old Accident Hospital in Bath Row, Mr Ashurst witnessed dozens of other casualties arriving.

His wife found herself sitting next to a young man with no hair. The man told her: "You wouldn’t believe that when I came out tonight my hair was down to my collar. Now look at me."

Whilst at the hospital, a doctor told him: "I'm very sorry, but we’ve ran out of the anaesthetic. I’m afraid I’ll have to stitch yours without it."

'It was absolute pandemonium - Birmingham would never be the same again'

Chris Cunningham was in town on the evening of November 21, 1974. He recalls traffic grinding to a halt at about 8:25pm as he joined the main dual carriageway in sight of the Rotunda.

"There was absolute pandemonium in the right hand lane as fire engines, ambulances, police cars, all with sirens blaring, and a seemingly endless stream of black cabs, hurtled past," he recalled. "My immediate thought was that there must have been some terrible accident somewhere, not having an inkling that it could have been a barbaric attack against young, innocent people out enjoying a drink after work."

Having been turned away from the city centre, Chris went to a friends house in Bordelesy Green. Only there would he learn what happened.

He said: "My stomach churned and my world and my Birmingham were never going to be the same again."

"He has been killed in the bombings" - those words will never leave me"

The Birmingham pub bombings were not just traumatic for those who witnessed them first hand, they also left lasting scars on many who lost loved ones that night. Hilda Turner lost her son Neil, aged 16, in the bombings - he was the youngest victim of the atrocity.

Hilda recalls getting a knock on the door from two policemen on November 22, 1974. "They asked me if I had a son and when I said ‘yes,’ they asked me what clothes he had been wearing," she said.

"I told the policemen about some of the usual clothes he wore. Then one of them said to us ‘I’m afraid to say we think he has been killed in the bombings.'

"The words will never leave me. I collapsed. They helped me up, of course. Someone got me a stiff drink. But it is all a blur. I don’t really remember the following days. I can’t."

She continued: "I have always blamed myself for his death. Because until the age of ten, Tommy had been brought up in Jamaica with grandparents he dearly loved.

"Then I brought him over here. I kept telling myself I should have let him stay with his grandparents. If I have done so this would never have happened."

'I saw lots of seperate parts of bodies'

Alan Morris was a former fireman who entered the Mulberry Bush shortly after the blast. He spoke of the devastation he witnessed and the 2019 inquest saying: "Inside there were lots of separate parts of bodies and all we could do was just collect up the bits and carry them out."

Moments earlier, when he arrived, he saw "a gentleman who was sitting with his back against a bridge and he had got a basic wooden chair leg, through his leg."

We stand by the victims and their families of the pub bombings today. Read our full coverage of the Birmingham Pub Bombings as we follow the events of the day.