Leicester salon's Pride flag torn down in 'petrifying' hate crime

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c1dqn4033nwo

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Darren Cunningham (left) and George Waterfield have been running The Secret Garden since 2019

The owners of a salon in Leicester say they "feel targeted" after their Pride flag was ripped down.

Since opening The Secret Garden in 2019, George Waterfield and Darren Cunningham said they had aimed to create a safe space "where everybody was welcome".

However, they were left devastated after their flag was torn down by a masked individual caught on their CCTV cameras on Sunday afternoon.

The incident follows another last month when a pole displaying a trans flag outside the salon was damaged, with Leicestershire Police treating both reports as hate crimes and launching an investigation.

The co-owners said they were first notified about the latest crime on social media by a passer-by, who sent them photos of the individual climbing the building in Avenue Road Extension.

When they checked back their CCTV, they noticed a person wearing black clothing and a balaclava, approaching the salon on a bike.

CCTV showed the Pride flag being ripped down

The footage then shows them removing the flag, leaving behind an empty pole.

Prior to this, a trans flag had also been displayed outside the venue, but the pole it was attached to was damaged.

"It is purely, 100% targeted," said Mr Waterfield. "As an openly gay man myself, it really hits home. I think it's really scary.

"I am a very confident person, and for myself to say that I'm really scared by that - it's just really heartbreaking that it still happens in 2025."

Mr Waterfield described the incident as "petrifying", adding: "I can't actually get over it. I don't understand what the motive is behind it."

"We will charge you by the haircut not the gender," says co-owner Mr Waterfield

Mr Waterfield described the salon as gender neutral, meaning customers are charged based on the haircut, rather than their gender.

"When we first launched that we were going gender neutral with the salon, it absolutely went viral and it got so much uproar with it. To be honest, way more good than bad," he said.

"It's obviously a controversial topic, but we were here to make sure that we normalised it. We've had so many clients that love the way we do it now.

"We're actually open to everybody - but when the people see the LGBTQ flag or they see the trans flag that we fly outside or hear that we're gender neutral, people think we're a gay salon and that's absolutely not the case.

"It just shows that we're open to everybody and anybody for any gender or however you identify can come here. We're not asking you what your sexuality is.

"We will charge you by the haircut not the gender."

The pole is now empty - but not for long, said the owners

The pair said they would not let themselves be intimidated by the incidents - and plans are already under way to replace the flag.

Mr Cunningham added: "We have got another flag on order so hopefully we will be getting that one as soon as possible.

"As soon as it comes through the door, absolutely. We need to fly it as proud as possible.

"We are not intimated by this. It's the second time it's happened in three weeks now - and we're just going to keep putting the flag up."

A Leicestershire Police spokesperson has urged anyone with information about either of these incidents to get in touch.

They said: "The reports are being investigated as a hate crime. We take these incidents extremely seriously and are in the process of investigating the incidents."

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