Ten years ago this month members of the IRA parked an inconspicuous white van illegally on Corporation Street, just outside Marks & Spencer.

Shortly after, at 11.20am on June 15 1996, this happened:

The 3,300lb bomb in the van produced an explosion large enough to break windows many miles away. This video shot from a police helicopter shows the fireball as it rips through the Arndale Centre and creates a cloud of smoke over the Manchester skyline.

The bombers phoned in a coded warning to Granada TV an hour earlier, giving Police just enough time to evacuate the city centre. Luckily, the Arndale Centre’s original evacuation point – next to the van itself – was quickly moved.

Considering June 15 was a busy Saturday – with people out shopping for the upcoming father’s day – it was a miracle that no one was killed. There were, however, over 220 people injured, including Melanie Serventi from Bolton.

There was also a rumour that one man living in the Arndale Centre had slept through the whole thing. I can’t find any evidence of this, however.

Manchester Evening News estimates the cost of damage by the bomb to be £200m, while The Guardian valued the subsequent face-lift at £700m. As the latter put it in 2001: “What it left was a crater where some of the ugliest buildings in Britain once stood.”

I wasn’t around at the time – I was probably kicking a football somewhere in the green fields of East Lancashire. The fall-out of the 1996 bombing, however, is plain to see by relative late-comers such as myself, and also by the city’s many millions of visitors.

But far from producing negative side-effects (panic, reduced investment, security fears, an exodus of people, anyone?), the long-term effects of the bombing have been almost entirely positive: namely Manchester’s regeneration.

Marks & Spencer rebuilt their flagship store on the bomb site, which itself led to the opening of the prestigious Selfridges. The Triangle, Harvey Nicholls and The Printworks (well, The Filmworks at least) added a bit of style nearby, as did the city centre’s most photographed landmark, Urbis.

Slightly further afield, the renovated Manchester Art Gallery redefined the city as an arts centre and truly miraculous things happened in both Castlefield and Salford Quays.

2002’s Commonwealth Games also followed, giving both East Manchester and the city’s transport system a much-needed kick up the backside.

Hell, even the formerly depressive city of Salford is now becoming somewhere people want to live.

Manchester city centre itself is now home to over 25,000 residents, according to the BBC, compared to just 70 (?) in 1990. I’d be one of them myself, if only I could afford.

So where’s this post going? Hooray for bombs? Pat on the back, the IRA? Karma exists? No, nowhere in particular. Just, long may the regeneration continue.