Soho pub falls silent on anniversary of nail bomb deaths

At precisely 6.37pm last night, staff and customers of the Admiral Duncan stood in silence to mark the moment a bomb tore through their pub one year ago.

Three candles burned in remembrance of Andrea Dykes, John Light and Nik Moore, who lost their lives that warm Friday evening in Soho, London.

A memorial service was held at St Anne's church nearby to mark the anniversary of the bomb, which also injured 65 people. A trio of newly planted cherry trees in the church grounds were dedicated to Mrs Dykes, Mr Light and Mr Moore. The trees symbolised the three local communities - Soho, Brick Lane, and Brixton - devastated by the three nail bombings last spring.

Many of the survivors, however, felt it was important to remain in the Admiral Duncan to observe the anniversary. "A lot of people want to be in the pub at the same time as when it happened, and while it will be sad, I think it needs to be done," said Mark Taylor, the landlord, before the service. The 32-year-old, who was severely burned in the blast, added: "The idea is that it is a celebration of their lives, a time to remember and think about them. "The last two or three days have been very, very hard on all of us, but we have had a lot of flowers delivered, messages and roses."

Mrs Dykes, 27, was four months' pregnant when she was killed with John Light, 32, the best man at her wedding, and Nik Moore, 31, a friend.

The trio were among a group of five friends out celebrating that night. Mrs Dykes and her husband Julian, 25, had discovered they were to become parents and asked their best man, Mr Light, to be a godfather. Andrea's husband was left with terrible injuries, as was John Light's partner, Gary Partridge.

Last night at the St Anne's service, Nik's brother, Martin Moore, made a speech calling on people to be more tolerant of minorities. "The service will undoubtedly be a very stressful time, as we will have to bring up the whole thing again, but we want to remember those who died and all those who were injured," he said. "It has been very difficult since Nik died and it doesn't seem possible it has been a year."