Residents at the Kirby Estate in Bermondsey, southeast London, have rallied together during international football tournaments in recent years, adorning it with the red and white of the St George’s Cross.
But this year, a “bitter” mystery vandal has gone around at night to cut the flags down.
Chris Dowse, who organises the decorations during international tournaments, spoke of his shock at the estate’s flags being removed.
“They did a portion on Saturday night and another one on Sunday night,” the 46-year-old said. “But we’ve got them back up now.
“We know who it was. We have evidence of them doing it. He’s going around at night with a knife, cutting the flags down.
“It’s quite hurtful. For all of the hours of time and effort we all took to put them up, it takes seconds to cut them down.
“It’s just disheartening. I’m not quite sure what his motives are, but we’re hoping that’s the end of it now.”
Mr Dowse added that though police had attended the estate, he wants to keep it in-house and resolve the situation “amicably” before taking any further steps.
“If he does it again, it’s a different kettle of fish,” he said. “We get so much attention for the good things we do, so for someone to destroy it…
“People have commented online saying they want to go and spray paint a St George’s Cross on his front door.”
Though he couldn’t estimate how many flags he’d cut down, Mr Dowse said the vandal had cut around 100ft of bunting and even tried to cut down the big ‘Kirby Estate’ flag.
“Basically, everything that goes across the estate had been cut down – 21 pieces of bunting,” Mr Dowse said.
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“We’ve become a tight-knit community. Someone brought us a massive roll of rope to put up if we want.”
Confident the Lionesses will beat Sweden in Zurich tomorrow (Thurs) night, Mr Dowse says the estate hopes to be flying all their flags again by the time the semi-final rolls round.
“It’s just bitterness, I think,” he said of the vandal.
