By GB News (World News) | Created at 2025-03-29 15:21:00 | Updated at 2025-04-01 01:12:51
2 days ago
A neighbour row has erupted after a fir tree in Sheffield was chopped in half.
The peculiarly pruned conifer in Brier Close, Waterthorpe, has become an unlikely visitor attraction, with people still arriving to take selfies with the infamous tree.
Just this week, images of the lollipop-shaped tree resurfaced on social media, receiving hundreds of thousands of views via the popular account No Context Brits.
The neighbours at the centre of the dispute had lived side by side harmoniously for around 25 years.
Bharat Mistry, a 60-year-old project manager, and his wife Singita Asha, a supermarket administration manager, owned the tree that would become infamous.
Next door lived Graham and Irene Lee, both now 79 and retired.
The couples were once friendly, often chatting on their doorsteps, while the Mistrys' children would play with the Lees' visiting grandchildren.
But during lockdown, which began five years ago, the relationship between the couples began to unravel.
The cause was the 25-year-old fir tree growing in the corner of the Mistrys' front garden, whose branches extended over the Lees' driveway.
MORE LIKE THIS:
- 'Just not good enough!' Couple locked in bitter privacy row with office next door - whose staff can see INTO their home
- Villagers fume after vicar 'disfigures' 15th century church with white makeover - 'Hideous!'
- Neighbour row erupts as 'England's most beautiful village' launches fightback against tourist invasion
Lee became increasingly concerned about pigeons roosting in the 16-foot-tall tree, complaining the birds were cooing too loudly and their droppings were landing on the bonnet of his SsangYong Korando SUV.
Relations between the previously friendly couples grew frosty.
The Mistrys insist they tried to be conciliatory, offering to trim the tree and even drape plastic sacks along branches to deter birds.
But Lee was determined to exercise his rights to cut back branches overhanging his property and in spring 2021, he hired tree surgeons to drastically prune the conifer, cutting it precisely in half.
Anonymous before-and-after photographs were sent to Jeremy Vine's Channel 5 show that June.
The images were shown on television and shared on social media, quickly becoming an internet sensation.
Today, the tree has partially regrown on the side that was so drastically pruned, though it maintains its odd shape.
"The exposed branches are growing some new leaves but it's still a very odd shape," Mistry said.
The neighbours have reached a fragile peace in the years since the incident.
"We have come to live with it but not love it. We had no choice with its being cut in half," Mistry explained, "We exchange pleasantries now and then but that is all."
The tree has become such a local landmark that walking groups take detours to see it.
Lee hired tree surgeons to drastically prune the conifer, cutting it precisely in half (Stock Image)
GETTY
One local resident noted that even their cousin in Australia had heard about the tree.
Neighbours are reluctant to take sides publicly in the dispute that put their street "on the map".
"We're not meant to take sides because both families have lived here for years," one resident said.
Another joked: "We're not allowed to talk about that tree. We're a close knit community and we'll get in trouble."
