A Bordon resident who narrowly escaped an IRA bombing that destroyed her coffee shop more than 50 years ago is still waiting for full compensation.

Olivia Todd-Russet, 70, was just 17 when a 150lb bomb ripped through her family’s cafe at the height of the Troubles.

Now living in Bordon but originally from Lurgan in County Armagh, she was running her family business. Olivia’s Coffee Lounge, when it was destroyed in June 1972.

“I was lying in bed reading a book when I heard banging at the door,” she said. “At first I thought it was just a drunk, so I ignored it. Then I heard shouting. When I looked out the window, I saw it was the police.”

Outside, officers from the Royal Ulster Constabulary had discovered a stolen car parked near the cafe. Fearing it contained a bomb, they were frantically evacuating nearby buildings.

“The police rushed in and told everyone to get out. We barely had time to grab anything,” Olivia recalled.

“Minutes later, the bomb went off. The whole street shook. My shop was gone — just rubble and flames.”

The explosion was one of two car bombs that struck Lurgan within 24 hours, devastating the town centre and leaving the town centre looking, as the Lurgan Mail later reported, “as though it had been blitzed.”

According to the newspaper’s report on Friday, June 9, 1972, the blast caused about £500,000 worth of damage. Olivia’s cafe was “completely demolished”, and many nearby shops were reduced to shells.

Only one person, a policeman, was injured that night, suffering facial cuts from flying glass. He was treated and later discharged. But the damage to Lurgan’s main street was immense, and the emotional toll even greater.

Olivia remembers the fear and disbelief that gripped her community. She said. “The town looked like a war zone — windows blown out, shops destroyed, people standing around not knowing where to start.”

The car used in the bombing, a white Ford Cortina, had been stolen from a factory car park days earlier. Police received an anonymous call minutes before the explosion, confirming their worst fears — that the vehicle was packed with explosives.

For Olivia, the attack was deeply personal. Her cafe had become a popular meeting place, known for its homemade cakes and warm welcome.

“We had one of the first coffee shops of its kind in Northern Ireland,” she said. “It was packed every week — people loved our chocolate cakes and lemon meringue pies.”

But as the conflict intensified, even running a business became dangerous. Olivia said she was targeted for welcoming everyone, including police officers and soldiers, as customers.

“The IRA phoned the Coffee Lounge and told me not to serve the police or the army,” she said. “But as a businesswoman, how could I refuse? Everyone was welcome. I had to close a few times because of the threats. I knew they’d do it — it was just a matter of when.”

That night changed her life forever. Although she survived, the loss of her business and the fear that followed left a lasting impact.

“My family still can’t believe it happened,” she said quietly. “They ask, ‘Why would anyone do that just because you served coffee to the police?’ It’s something I’ll never forget.”

Decades later, Olivia is still fighting for justice. Despite half a century passing since the bombing, she has received only £30,000 in compensation for her cafe, which was reduced to rubble.

“The damage was estimated at half a million pounds,” she said. “All these years later, I’m still fighting for justice.”