Days in the Life at the Guardian: 17 June 1996

At 11.17am on Saturday 15 June 1996, the IRA detonated a 3,300-pound bomb on Corporation Street in central Manchester, next to the Arndale shopping centre. It was the largest device to have been detonated in Britain during peacetime. Two hundred and twelve people were injured, but the lasting damage, later estimated at £1bn, was to the city's infrastructure. Rebuilding and redevelopment took nearly a decade, changing the face of the city for good.