The Happy Man Tree Photo Reportage

The sad story of the UK Tree of the year 2020

5 Jan 2021 — Hackney, London. As the Delta variant began sweeping through the city and the rest of the UK, and despite the Covid-19 ban on public gatherings, a couple of dozen activists met in one last, desperate attempt to save a tree that had stood guard outside the Happy Man pub for 150 years. Both the pub and its guardian plane tree were due to be cleared for a new housing development.

In spite of lawsuits, civil-disobedience actions and detailed alternative plans showing how the tree could be preserved, Hackney Council authorised the felling. At 6 a.m. contractors fenced off the trunk; dozens of Metropolitan Police officers and private security guards ring-fenced the site while alert messages flashed across public and private channels.

Years of petitions and protests had already won the Happy Man Tree the title UK Tree of the Year 2020 (awarded in December 2019), part of a broader bid to amplify its story.

After barely two hours’ work the saws fell silent. The tree was gone—its shadow felled with it.