Neighbours Split On Overhanging Fir Tree

IRATE homeowners took half measures in a dispute about overhanging branches – by splitting their neighbour’s tree right down the middle.

- Paul Jeeves

The oddly trimmed fir has become a tourist attraction after it appeared on TV.

But its owner, Bharat Mistry, says he and his family were gutted when tree surgeons lopped off precisely half its branches.

And he is stumped over why his neighbours took the drastic action because he says they always got on. The 16ft tree has stood in his front garden for 25 years.

But Bharat, 56, said the fir feud started in March 2020, when Graham and Irene Lee, both 74, moaned about birds in the tree making too much noise and messing up their bungalow’s driveway.

Bharat, who lives with wife Sangita and two daughters in Waterthorpe, Sheffield, said: “We trimmed the tree into a ball shape by agreement with the neighbour.