Londoners have had their first look at Trafalgar Square’s ‘iconic’ Christmas tree, and in true Grinch fashion, it has already been ripped to shreds by Londoners.
The fern, which has travelled thousands of miles from Norway, was unveiled in the capital today.
The erection of the tree is part of an almost eight-decade long tradition between the two countries following the Second World War, as a marker of respect to recognise the UK’s assistance to Norway.
The tree’s official social media account penned a lighthearted post to critics, saying: ‘Guess who’s back? Now, before the haters start commenting on my branches, I’ve had 10 days of beauty sleep.
‘Who wouldn’t look a bit flat after that kind of travel? But don’t fret; it’ll fluff up and shine just in time for my big moment.’
Miserable people were quick to shut down the festive cheer, with Gillian Flavell piping up: ‘Going to take a lot of fluffing to hide all those dead branches. Just saying.’
‘It’s here. Well half of it anyway,’ another commented.
The tree will be officially unveiled on Thursday, when the lights and decorations are also added.
Some were quick to rush to the fir’s defence, with one man sharing a sweet family anecdote of the tree’s history, ‘My Norwegian grandfather captained the ship that brought over the first Christmas tree.
‘Then a present from the people of Oslo. When I was a kid I sung in the Norwegian Seamans Church choir next to the tree every year.’
To get the latest news from the capital visit Metro's London news hub.
The public’s underwhelming response to the historic tree’s unveiling has become something of a tradition, with people last year suggesting that it needed to be transported better to make sure it arrived in a better state.
In 2023, people felt as though the tree was ‘half dead’, with Suganthan Mohandasan writing ‘That’s only half the tree. Explains the recession in Norway.’
Scrooges of 2022 compared the huge fir to a ‘cucumber’ after it arrived from Norway from a 1,075 trip.
Downing Street’s Resident mouser , Larry the Cat chipped in and said: ‘Judging by the photos of the Trafalgar Square Christmas tree being felled last week in Norway and arriving today, it’s been transported as hand luggage on Ryanair…’
In 2021, Metro uncovered the bill that taxpayers had forked out for the massive fern – which set the public back £27,000 – equivalent to the starting salary for an NHS nurse.
Sourced from a forest outside of the city, it requires ‘good soil/site quality’ and has been carefully selected for its suitability as a gift, according to WCC’s response.
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
For more stories like this, check our news page.
