Mitchells & Butlers CEO issues apology after felling of ancient oak tree near Toby Carvery

The chief executive of Mitchells & Butlers has issued an apology after it was reported that restaurant chain Toby Carvery had cut down an ancient oak tree in London’s Enfield.

The tree in Whitewebbs Wood was reportedly 500 years old and the local council told the BBC it had “centuries to live”.

Phil Urban, who heads up Toby Carvery parent company of Mitchells & Butlers, said: “Clearly the felling of a beautiful old tree is a very emotive subject and is not something that any of us would undertake lightly. I can only apologise for all the upset that it has caused.

“In this instance, one of our team acted in good faith in response to expert advice and authorised the work to be done.”

He said the incident was an “exceptional circumstance” that has led the team to embark on a review.

Urban said Mitchells & Butlers was now looking to “tighten our protocols to ensure that were something like this 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”.

His apology comes after Ergin Erbil, leader of Enfield Council, said the local authority “was not informed” of the felling of the ancient oak tree on 3 April “until last week”.

In an announcement on 14 April, Erbil said: “Our teams immediately carried out a full site inspection to assess the damage after receiving reports of the damage done to the tree. We are treating the matter as criminal damage and have reported it to the police. We have now placed a legal protection (tree preservation order) on the tree and are looking at ways to help it grow back.”

Erbil told LBC the council was considering “all of our legal options” in regard to the felling of the tree.

A spokesperson for Mitchells & Butlers said: “The tree was cut back after we were advised by our specialist arboriculture contractors that it caused a potential health and safety risk.

“This was an important action to protect our employees and guests as well as the wider general public, to whom we have a duty of care.

“We took necessary measures to ensure any legal requirements were met. We are grateful to our specialist arboriculture contractors for warning us of this potential health and safety risk, allowing us to act swiftly to address it.”