A movement dedicated to displaying the St George’s Cross and Union Jack in public has spread to the city
A roundabout on Sturlington Road, Brislington was painted over with the national flag(Image: Bristol Live)
Roundabouts, roads and bridges around Bristol have been adorned with the St George’s cross as a trend that has swept through the country in recent weeks comes to the city.
A roundabout on Sturlington Road, Brislington was painted over with the design of the national flag, as were the road markings running along the edge of the High Street in Staple Hill, East Bristol.
Over the bank holiday weekend, motorists driving along the M4 were greeted by the sight of several English flags draped from a motorway bridge halfway between the Bristol junction and the Bath junction.
A large St George’s Cross has also been spotted painted on the side of the Avon Gorge.
A roundabout on Sturlington Road, Brislington was painted over with the national flag(Image: Bristol Live)
The paintings are part of ‘Operation Raise The Colours’, a movement which says it is trying to restore a sense of national pride by displaying the St George’s Cross and Union Jack in public. The Daily Mail has referred to the group as an “army of patriots”, but it is an army that has allegedly been funded and organised by far-right extremists, according to the anti-racist advocacy group HOPE not hate.
The group says several of the men at the centre of the campaign are well-known associates of Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, also known as Tommy Robinson, founder of the English Defence League and perhaps the UK’s most notorious far-right activist.
Several English flags were draped over a motorway bridge on the M4 over the bank holiday weekend(Image: Bristol Live)
Operation Raise The Colours has been praised and lambasted in equal measure, as a happy return to a legitimate expression of patriotic fervour on the one hand and as a shameful throwback to the heyday of the National Front on the other.
The movement is thought to have begun in the suburbs of Birmingham before spreading to nearly every corner of the country in recent weeks.
The appearance of the flags in the city is the latest example of a national culture war landing on the streets of Bristol, after the bank holiday weekend saw ugly scenes involving police, anti-migration demonstrators and anti-fascist counter protestors.
Bristol City Council has confirmed the city remains a place of sanctuary for asylum seekers in the wake of the protests, and a High Court injunction prohibiting migrants from being housed in a hotel in Epping, Essex.
St George cross has appeared on crossings and road markings across the country, Tuesday 26 August 2025 , this in Staple Hill in Bristol is found on white lines on the High Street(Image: PAUL GILLIS / Reach PLC)
Although some flags – such as the national flag – do not need consent to be displayed, they still need to be flown in legal locations with the permission of the owner of the property, including those flown on local authority land for example if they are on lamp posts.
South Gloucestershire Council and Bristol City Council were contacted for comment regarding the flags’ appearance on roads managed by each council.