How long does it take to prepare a media statement?

If you're Mitchells & Butlers, the answer appears to be: more than 5 hours.

The pub chain behind Toby Carvery is facing what looks like a snowballing PR catastrophe after the felling of a much-loved tree in Enfield, North London — reportedly up to 500 years old.

As public anger mounts, the company told BBC News at midday on 15 April 2025 that it was "preparing a media statement." By late afternoon, there appeared to be no sign.

In the absence of an instant response, the void has been filled by emotional outpourings from the local community and the emergence of a whistleblower leaking internal details to the press.

Mitchells & Butlers now finds itself engulfed in controversy, accused not just of environmental insensitivity but of underestimating the social and emotional weight of its actions.

A word of advice: in a crisis silence often speaks louder than words.In M&B’s case the tumbleweed may be deafening 😳