The South London estate has outdone itself and is draped in crosses of St George
England’s ‘most patriotic estate’ is yet again draped in national flags ahead of today’s (Wednesday, June 17) World Cup 2026 match against Croatia. Thomas Tuchel’s men will be hoping to enact revenge on the Croatians after they knocked us out in the semis in 2018 following an extra time winner.
The Kirby Estate in Bermondsey has earned itself a reputation as being mega-patriotic with a swathe of St George flags and bunting covering the blocks. It’s a traditional ritual, busted out whenever England is in a competition, such as the Euros and the World Cup.
But it’s not just England flags you see, as everyone is welcome to fly their national flag there. When MyLondon visited we saw Scottish flags, as well as Colombia’s colours. We spoke to Derek Townsend, a handyman who’s called the estate home for 35 years.
Despite being an England fan and lover of striker Harry Kane, he thinks England aren’t ‘going to do well in the tournament,’ and reckons the Scots ‘will go further.’ He puts this down to our boys ‘being a funny team who don’t seem to gel,’ and who will ‘will get beaten by Croatia.‘
The lifelong Bermondsey boy spoke highly of Kirby’s sense of community. He said: “All the kids all get involved with the flags and have been doing it for years now. They all put them out…they put all the Union Jacks – it’s good here. Everyone gets involved in having little street parties.”
‘The cross of St George symbolises togetherness’
Derek feels the cross of St George to be quintessentially English, as it symbolises ‘togetherness.’ To him, it represents ‘everyone getting involved and getting together.’
“If people don’t like them they can always put their own flag up,” he said, before pointing to a flat above him where the man ‘rips it down because he doesn’t like it.’
‘It’s a sense of pride for us’
Electrician and dad-of-three, Addil Khan, is from Pakistani heritage and has ‘never’ felt othered or uncomfortable by the grand display of St George flags in the estate. In fact, he feels ‘a sense of pride,’ when he sees them.
He said: “It’s a sense of pride for us, this is our representation….We have moved away from racism. I know there are far-right people who try to mess things [up] but that used to be [the case], not anymore.”
Addil loves taking part in the estate’s tradition, and has ‘easily’ spent at least £300 on his children’s England kits, and that’s ‘before’ he’s paid for flags. The electrician has lived there for 12 years and has his faith in the ‘superb’ Harry Kane, and thinks ‘we have the best squad which has a chance of bringing the cup home.’
‘The estate is very integrated’
Addil told us the estate is ‘very integrated and diverse.’ “We always welcome people putting up their own country’s flag. You can see the Scotland flag, France flag, Colombian flag, and even a Canadian flag,” he said.
Ollie Turner, 36, echoes Addil’s sentiment about the estate having a ‘brilliant’ sense of community. The lift engineer is from Bermondsey and has been around the estate since he was a child. He said: “As you can see, people’s doors are open, the kids are running around. It’s a very old school area where everyone knows each other, and everyone helps each other out – it’s brilliant.
“This is what it was like when I was growing up on an estate across the road there – kids running around until 9pm at night.“
‘Saying the England flag’s racist is absurd’
He added that the cross of St George ‘means everything’ to him. “This is our country’s flag, it’s our tradition which, we should it raise with pride,” he said.
The lift engineer added he doesn’t understand how’ the England flag is associated with racism, as he can’t conceive of how ‘offended by a country flag’. He said: “We have Palestinian flags flying, we have Israeli flags flying, we have all sorts of other flags flying all around the UK. But to fly the home country’s flag being deemed as racist is absurd to me to be honest.”
But Ollie does see how some people can find the flag uncomfortable; this hasn’t changed his view on it. He said: “I can understand where some people obviously see that it’s racist. It hasn’t changed my opinion on it whatsoever.“
Martin Sullivan has lived on the estate for over a decade and loves the ‘nice community’ there. “Everyone is friendly and looks out for each other,” he said. He too isn’t convinced the England flag is racist.
“I think people make a big deal out of stuff that’s not really true. You know what I mean?” he said.
This was echoed by Afghani local Farhad, 31, who said ‘no’ when we asked him if he thinks the flags embody racism.
We also spoke with Russell – who didn’t want to share his surname, but has lived in the Kirby estate for 30 years. “It would be good to win,” he joked when we asked him how well he thinks England will do.
He also loves the local sense of togetherness and told us when the matches are on they ‘put screens up and have a party. The waste disposal man describes the cross of St George as ‘the pride of England.’
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