Leicester salon owners refuse to be intimidated following suspected hate crime

George Waterfield and Darren Cunningham, co-owners of a Leicester salon – The Secret Garden – have said they refuse to be intimidated after their business was targeted twice in suspected hate crime incidents that saw damage of, and tearing down of pride flags flying outside.

On Sunday afternoon (14^th September) a masked individual was caught on their CCTV tearing down a Pride Progress flag. The incident also follows another last month when a pole displaying the trans flag outside the salon was damaged. Leicestershire Police are treating both reports as hate crimes and have launched an investigation.

Since opening The Secret Garden in 2019, the pair have aimed to create a safe space "where everybody was welcome". The salon runs as a gender-neutral space where clients pay for the haircut rather than gendered pricing.

George Waterfield explains: "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.

"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.”

George (left) and Darren (right) (Image: George Waterfield)

Waterfield and Cunningham were first alerted to the latest vandalism of their business whern a passer-by sent them photos of the individual climbing the building in Avenue Road Extension via social media. They then checked back on their CCTV, witnessing a person wearing black clothing and a balaclava, approaching the salon on a bike. The footage then shows them removing the flag, leaving behind an empty pole.

Waterfield said: "It is purely, 100% targeted. 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 heart-breaking that it still happens in 2025."

The incidents have no, however, discouraged the pair from continuing to welcome everyone into their salon. They already have another flag ordered and plan to replace it “as soon as possible”.

Darren Cunningham said: "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."