British chippy featuring Union flag to be repainted

Owners of a Leicester fish and chip shop painted in the colours of the Union flag, say it will be repainted but have denied they are being forced to do it.

It comes after rumours began circulating about 'The Fish and Chip' in Jubilee Square, suggesting owners had been ordered to changed the Union flag design.

Hundreds of people voiced their anger about the proposed change, with a number of far-right Facebook members also picking up on the story.

But both the restaurant owners and the city council have now joined forces to confirm that there was no order to remove the flag design

The Fish and Chip founder, Atin Anadkat, says they had always planned to repaint the shop front:

The red, white and blue shop front gained a largely positive reaction - with most people loving it.

The rumour started when a woman from Leicester took to Facebook to share a message about the restaurant's unique appearance, claiming it was being removed after the owners were asked to repaint it or face closure.

The post generated a lot of anger, with more than 150 people sharing it and comments including "wow this is our flag of our country...disgusting" and "keep it on, what's wrong with society".

A few people questioned the validity of the statement, with one user commenting: "It can't be true, surely?".

However, the post had a lot of people convinced.

There's a big problem with the statement though - when the paint job appeared, questions were raised over whether a business would need planning permission to do what they did.

Leicester City Council said categorically that the team behind the Fish and Chip were well within their right to customise the building and added:"Painting a shopfront does not require planning permission and it’s entirely up to the owner to decide on a colour scheme."