A Sikh shop owner who put St George's flags outside his store has defied hate mail trolls who asked him 'Have you forgotten your skin colour?'

Business owner Gagan, 31, received the anonymous letter last week claiming that as an Indian business owner, the firm should not show support for England during the World Cup.

The manager of GMS Heating & Plumbing was accused of forgetting his motherland and his skin colour in the poisonous pen letter.

He raised the flag for the first time last Wednesday, June 20, at his store in Ilford, east London, and received the anonymous letter on Thursday, June 21.

Business owner Gagan, 31, received an anonymous letter last week after he put up St George's flags, claiming that as an Indian, he should not show support for England during the World Cup

Littered with spelling mistakes and bad grammar, the letter said: 'You have put [the] wrong flag outside your shop when you have come from Indian.

'Have you forgot your skin colour?'

It went on to say: 'You should put the Pakistan flag outside your shop not British.

'If National Front skinheads saw this flag outside they will kick you back to India without your trousers on.'

The defiant business owner said his father immediately went out to purchase four more flags after opening the letter, which was posted anonymously.

Although the letter addressed him as uncle, possibly indicating the writer was Indian, Gagan didn't want to speculate on who penned the note.

He said: 'We're just trying to have some fun and people want to ruin it by saying it shouldn't be done. It should be done.'

The manager of GMS Heating & Plumbing was accused of forgetting his motherland and his skin colour in the poisonous pen letter

He continued: 'I find this mentality really stupid to be honest - what we can't support the country that we're living in?'

The business owner said the family-run business always put out St George flags for major sporting events and refuse to back down now.

He added: 'We are a family business that my father started over 30 years ago.

'He has lived in this country for around 40 years and we love this country otherwise we wouldn't be here.

'Supporting England during the football is enjoyable and all part of the fun - and some people seem to think it is wrong for us to do because we are Indian?'

'Why spend your time writing a letter like this, it doesn't make sense to me.'