A dad says his half-cut fir tree is still attracting visitors five years after it was chopped down by his angry neighbours. Bharat Mistry, 61, was left distraught in 2021 when Irene and Graham Lee sliced half the branches off their beloved 16ft tree after a year-long row.
He says the neighbours are on speaking terms again but the half-cut tree has become a unique tourist attraction and even attracts oddballs wanting to hug it.
Speaking exclusively to the Daily Star this week, he said: “So many people keep coming and looking at it. We still get people driving up to it and people even hug it.”
The tree had stood on the drive of the house in Sheffield, South Yorks., for 25 years before the Lees took drastic action in June 2021.
Bharat said at the time the two families had previously got on fine and there had never been any issues over three, which hanged over both drives in the leafy suburb of Waterthorpe.
But after the Lees moaned about nesting birds making noise and fouling on their drive, they called in tree surgeons who chopped it perfectly in half, sparking global headlines.
Bharat said: “We’re just talking with the neighbours to say hello, but other than that it’s still the same. We’re not at loggerheads about anything and the tree is still the same, it’s still half a tree.
“It’s still growing and it’s not dead, it’s just stayed the same since they took the other half away. It’s never grown back. We just say hello to them, nothing more than that really. I’m fine with that and they are.”
And he said rubberneckers still visit the quiet cul-de-sac – where houses sell for around £220,000 – for a good look at the tree, which is still cut in half. It has even been tagged as a landmark on Google Maps and visitors have left reviews by “tourists”.
One wag gave it three stars and quipped: “Should have given this five stars but I’ve cut my review in half and rounded up.”
Another wrote: “I was torn between visiting London, its monuments and bridges, or discovering the Half Tree in Sheffield… and I absolutely don’t regret my choice. My 9-year-old daughter had never seen anything like it.
“This magnificent tree filled us with wonder and reminded us how ingenious human beings can find solutions to simple problems.“A truly surprising and inspiring experience.”
Bharat added: “It was always going to head that way. We still get people coming for a look. Especially when the football is on, we’ve found.”