A centuries old oak tree in Enfield has been hacked down by a Toby Carvery causing uproar among local residents and conservationists.

Enfield Council demanded police investigate the felling it considered “criminal damage”, after receiving reports on April 3 that an ancient tree in Whitewebbs Wood was found to have been cut down.

Experts carried out a full investigation of the site to assess the damage and a Tree Preservation Order has now been placed on the tree to protect it from any further damage.

The tree, referred to as the ‘Guy Fawkes Oak’ due to its proximity to the Whitewebbs House where the Gunpowder Plot was planned, is thought to have been in the top 100 of London’s 600,000 oak trees in terms of its size before it was cut down.

Enfield Council released a statement earlier today to confirm they had reported the the matter to police.

It has now emerged that the owners of a nearby Toby Carvery felled the tree believing it was a “health and safety risk”.

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The paper said an arboreal expert, employed by the firm, had decreed that the tree — which stood near the pub’s car park — was dead, and that the only course of action was to cut it down. But other experts have said the tree “could have lived for another century or more.”

Standing at 6.10metres in height, the ancient tree has been listed in the Woodland Trust’s Ancient Tree Inventory as a Pedunculate oak , situated in a public park with open access.