Dame Judi Dench ‘Filled with Horror’ Over Threat to East End’s Oldest Tree

DAME JUDI DENCH is ‘filled with horror’ over the threat to the East End’s oldest tree, as she backs a High Court battle to save it.

Dame Judi is backing a campaign that has been launched with the aim of saving the tree. Campaigners are taking the Tower Hamlets Council to the High Court in the hopes of saving what is thought to be the oldest tree in the East End.

The Magnificent old tree has survived many challenges including being bombed in the blitz and also survived The Great Fire of London, but now it is at risk as developers want to build a block of flats. There are plans to move the tree although campaigners believe that the old tree would not survive the upheaval.

Dame Judi said, “The thought of the 400-year-old Bethnal Green Mulberry Tree being dug up to build a block of flats fills me with horror. This pandemic has taught us that we should respect nature not destroy it.”

She also encouraged people to support the campaign and hopes that “this beautiful old tree can live and flourish” and be seen by “generations to come”.

Geoffrey Juden of the East End Preservation Society and chairman of the East London Garden Society, is working to save the tree and is challenging the council’s planning permission.

Geoffrey said, “We understand there is a pressing need for genuinely affordable housing in Bethnal Green but we also recognise a responsibility to future generations.

“We want the development to be done in a sensitive and humane way — so that it does not damage the historic Mulberry Tree.”

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