A LONDON shop faced abuse for flying St George flags in support of England in the World Cup – the business responded to the complaint by covering the shopfront in even more flags.
London shop vows to fly MORE St George's flags after abuse
A shop in the east London town of Ilford received a letter stating its England flags should be removed because the owners are from India.
The letter said the family had the “wrong flag” outside their shop and “should know that you don’t forget your motherland country”.
In response to the letter, the shop owners vowed to put even more St George flags up as they rallied behind England.
Sagan Mangat, Director at GMS Ltd, told the BBC: “I know I’m Indian but I’m also English. It’s got nothing to do with what football team I support.”
The shopfront is now plastered in England flags with World Cup bunting wrapping its way around the building.
World Cup 2018: Shop responded to abuse by putting even more England flags up
- We did put all the flags up and we are very very proud of it
Dalvinder Singh
“For the past 30 years now we have been putting the flags up.”
Jiwan Mangat, who founded the company, said he has been flying the flags for 30 years and it represents a whole community living together.
Royal Mail postmen and delivery drivers have also been barred from displaying St George's flags or stickers while working – for health and safety reasons.
The ban affects all of the Royal Mail's 125,000 delivery staff, based at 1,400 delivery depots across the UK.
A Royal Mail spokesman defended the ban, claiming St George's flags could “obscure the driver's view”.
Jacob Rees-Mogg: England flag ban is 'silly' and 'bureaucratic'
Wetherspoons have also banned their staff from displaying England flags in all of their 880 pubs across the nation.
A spokesman told the Mirror Online: "We have told managers at each of our pubs that there should be no restrictions on customers wearing football shirts during the world cup.
“If a manager decides not to let someone in because he/she is wearing a football shirt, then we would expect the manager to have a good reason for doing so.”
But Prime Minister Theresa May told MPs in June that Number 10 will be flying the England flag on the day of each of England's matches.
Speaking in the Commons, she said: “We will be encouraging other government departments to do the same.
"And I'm going to go further than my predecessors.
“Next year we will do the same for the women's World Cup."
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