Owners of a Winston Churchill-themed cafe in Finsbury Park, London, have had to remove a mural of the war-time prime minister after repeated vandalism from leftist protesters.
Blighty UK cafe’s outside mural, which showed Churchill holding up two fingers under the words “double shot” – humorously implying he was ordering a double espresso, had repeatedly been vandalised with spray paint abuse including, “warmonger”, “imperialist”, and “scum”, reports the Evening Standard.
The World War Two themed restaurant, which is decorated with wartime paintings, union flags, and model Spitfires, is one of two history-themed cafes the small business owners operate.
Blighty India, in nearby Tottenham, celebrates the former Empire’s Commonwealth countries and is decorated with a neon portrait of Gandhi, Indian flags, and Bollywood posters, and co-owner Chris Evans hopes to grow the brand by opening Blighty Kenya in the future.
Blighty FC 5 a side team welcomes their new star signing. Power and pace upfront this season pic.twitter.com/8M613JWMnV
— Blighty Cafe (@BlightyCafe) January 22, 2018
Leftists are also campaigning against Blighty India, calling for Tottenham’s Labour MP David Lammy, who is known for his anti-Brexit, anti-Trump positions, to intervene and ask the chain owners to “adjust their brand whilst there’s still only two branches”.
In their online petition, activists claim the cafes “insensitively evoke memory of the Empire”, and that the Blighty chain is “using history in a light-hearted fancy-dress manner” which represents a “garish colonial view of India”.
Co-owner Mr. Evans said that the vandalism and petition have been an “unnecessary headache” whilst they have been trying to expand their small business.
“We never imagined that Churchill or Gandhi would attract complaints. We thought they were both widely liked and admired figures,” he said.
“After all, Darkest Hour cinema audiences are giving standing ovations to Churchill’s ‘We shall fight on the beaches’ speech.
“The Churchill mural was just a bit of fun with the idea that he had two fingers up ordering a double espresso. It is simply silly to say we are celebrating British imperialism.
“We are just an independent cafe chain put together by people who work hard to make it happen and people seem to want to bring politics into it to try and drag us down.
“All we are doing is celebrating a true British hero in Churchill and the ties between Britain and Commonwealth countries.”
@BlightyUKCafe celebrates the #Commonwealth and its heroes – black, brown, yellow, white, straight or gay – who fought the kind of racist tyranny the cafe owners now battle with pic.twitter.com/UVp3DSvJyy
— Raedwald (@Raedwald) January 23, 2018
Supporters have reached out to Blighty UK on Twitter, telling the business owners to “Be like Churchill, never surrender!” and criticised the leftist vandals for having “no sense of the positive side of Britain’s history”.
Another user pointed to the protesters’ hypocrisy of denying the respect afforded to Commonwealth citizens who fought in the Second World War against “the kind of racist tyranny the cafe owners now battle with”.
Universities and other public spaces across the UK and Commonwealth nation Australia have faced protests from cultural Marxists who want to tear down memorials to historical figures who have shaped the world.
Journalist Afua Hirsch even suggested in a Guardian editorial article that Nelson’s column should be removed because Viscount Horatio Nelson was a “white supremacist”.
The movement erupted in the United States over the summer when ‘anti-racist’ activists agitated against memorials to antebellum and Civil War figures and even against the country’s founding fathers.
However, this is the first time of note that a private company was attacked for celebrating Britain’s wartime hero who stopped fascism in its tracks.
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