Toby Carvery boss apologises for cutting down ancient tree in pub car park

The boss of Toby Carvery has apologised after an ancient oak tree was felled at one of his pubs.

The 500-year-old tree which was known locally as the ‘Guy Fawkes Oak’ was reduced to a stump in the pub chain’s car park in north London on April 3.

Enfield Council, which owns the land, called for the police to investigate the felling, after The Woodland Trust demanded justice.

But Phil Urban, from company Mitchells & Butlers, wrote in an apology letter seen by the BBC: ‘Clearly the felling of a beautiful old tree is a very emotive subject and is not something any of us would undertake lightly.

‘I can only apologise for all the upset that it has caused.’

The tree did not have a tree preservation order on it because it was on council land, which should have given it automatic protection.

Mr Urban insisted that the company had acted in good faith, saying they were told the tree posed a health and safety risk.

He added: ‘In this instance, one of our team acted in good faith in response to expert advice and authorised the work to be done.

‘However, I would totally accept that this was an exceptional circumstance, and as part of our review, we have already concluded that we need to tighten our protocols to ensure that if something like this were to ever happen again, that we could still protect our guests, team members and/or general wider public from harm but have time for a fuller consultation.’

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