England's 'most patriotic estate' puts up SCOTLAND flags for World Cup | SWNS

England's 'most patriotic estate' has put up its famous flag display for the World Cup - and included Scotland. The Kirby estate is known for going all out when the Three Lions compete in a major tournament, and 2026 is no different. Residents have again decked out the estate in Bermondsey, south London with around 400 St George's Cross flags. But in a show of support for the Auld Enemy - who qualified for their first World Cup since 1998 - this year's edition also includes the Scottish Saltire. Chris Dowse, 47, who organises the decorations alongside his neighbours, said the estate welcomed residents wanting to show their own national pride. He said: “We’ve always encouraged other people to make sure they put up a flag wherever they’re from, and we’ll take ours down and move them aside. “We have got a Scot – Sarah – she’s Scottish when she wants to be, her family’s Scottish and she’ll always put up an England flag, but when Scotland are involved, the Scotland flag will appear as well. “And we have got another Scottish flag right where we call the focal point, where we have our big display right at the front of the estate. “There’s a fella there whose mum was Scottish and his dad was English, so he has a Scottish flag and an England flag as well.” Chris said the residents have only had to spend £20 this year, thanks to ‘meticulous’ organisation of their collection. The tradition started back in 2012 for the Euros, with this World Cup marking the 13th time residents have decorated their estate to commemorate an international tournament. Chris, a dad-of-three who works in the entertainment industry, said: “Last year when we took them down, we put them away meticulously, so when we bring them out we know exactly where they’re going to go. “They’re all in individual bags, so it should make it pretty straightforward. “This year, we’re hoping when we bring them out everything’s going to be A-OK, and we can put them up without worrying.” The tradition originally flew flags every two years, for the men’s game. But with the success of the Lionesses, the estate began flying the colours yearly from 2019 onwards. Chris said the estate’s collection of flags was ‘nudging 400’ – though the exact numbers are up in the air. He said: “I found 37 new packs of bunting underneath my sofa in my garden. “So, this year I think we’re going to go heavy on the bunting, because they’re unused from last year. “Plus, in storage we’ve still got more packs of bunting we didn’t use as well.” However, the decorations have led to some controversy in the past – with Chris saying they’ve previously been the subject of accusations of racism and of being ‘far right’. Chris said: “We don’t do it too long in advance – we don’t want to string it out that long, so they’re up for weeks and weeks on end, even though we always keep a few dotted around the estate all year round. “With what’s going on in the world, we know that our reason for putting the flags up is solely about football. “We don’t want people getting the wrong idea – for years we had to battle ‘it’s a racist estate,’ ‘far right headquarters’, and all this sort of stuff. “Over the years people have come to realise that’s not what we’re about and that’s not what we do it for, that narrative’s died down. “We don’t want to reignite the flame.” Flags were put up throughout the estate over the weekend, well ahead of England’s first World Cup match against Croatia in Dallas, Texas, on June 17. The 2026 tournament starts on June 11 when Mexico host South Africa at the Azteca Stadium - a repeat of the 2010 tournament opener. Please subscribe for daily viral videos and check out all our social channels here: https://linktr.ee/swns To license this video for editorial or commercial use please contact [email protected]