Pub demanded to paint over St George's flag after it appears in Reform video
Landlord Jerry Kunkler hit back at the decision made by the Lib Dem council
A pub has been ordered to remove a St George's Cross painted outside an hour after it featured in a Reform UK promotional video.
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The portrait of the flag has been on display outside the Moonrakers in Pewsey, Wiltshire, since 2022 when England were in Qatar for the football World Cup.
However, he recieved requests to paint over it almost immediately after it was seen as a backdrop in a Reform UK video.
The pub's landlord Jerry Kunkler, who has had it since 1981 is and the county’s longest-serving councillor, has hit back at the Lib Dem council.
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The video, featuring Danny Kruger, the East Wiltshire MP who recently defected from the Conservatives, was published at 12.18pm on Tuesday.
An hour later, Cllr Kunkler received an email from Wiltshire council requesting the cross be painted over within 14 days, the Telegraph report.
Mr Kruger insisted the cross "isn't a political thing" but that it is "an English pub in an English town with an England flag."
The email from Steven Jenkins, the council’s planning enforcement officer, said: "It has been brought to my attention that you have undertaken some unauthorised works to your property without first obtaining listed building consent.
"I must therefore request that the red paint be gone over/removed with white to resolve the breach and bring the property back to its former state."
Cllr Kunkler first painted the cross on the pub's exterior in 2016 for the Euros but renovated the pub during the pandemic and then repainted the cross in 2022 for the World Cup.
He told The Telegraph: "It's always been a sports bar and I’ve always been an England supporter.
"We're a fully English-supporting pub, but we’re all inclusive. We let anyone in and we're family-friendly.
"I repainted the cross in 2022 – I like a gimmick, it’s doing its job to promote the business – then I never gave it a thought until this week.
"I didn’t have any concerns about Danny doing the video here. He’s my MP and although he’s crossed the floor, I still work with him, I have no qualms about him doing the video."
Cllr Kunkler said he expected to contest the decision, but said the affair was "a waste of taxpayers' money."
Mr Kruger told the newspaper: "I did a video the other day and chatted to Jerry on camera, and that obviously triggered the council to do this planning thing – nobody’s minded for years and years.
"I think it’s really wrong that the council’s hounding him. I don’t know if he was aware of the requirements to get planning permission to paint his own pub."
In the video, which was posted by the Reform UK X account on Tuesday, the pair are filmed chatting in front of the cross-emblazoned pub.
While Mr Kruger was filmed pulling a pint in the pub, he said: "What we need is leaders who are not ashamed of our country, who are not ashamed of the idea of community, of people looking out for each other in the neighbourhood."
Adrian Foster, cabinet member for planning at Wiltshire council, said on Tuesday: "The Moonrakers is a Grade II listed building within the Pewsey Conservation Area. Listed building consent is sometimes required for external redecoration where there is a change of paint colour.
"The changes reported about this property will be investigated in accordance with the council’s planning enforcement policy."