Gnarly

My garden is quite small and this gnarly old pear tree has been in it for a very long time. It's got a lovely magnolia next to it and they jostle for the middle ground.

But it is a tree that is past it's best, the pears are inedible and the bark is not healthy.

I'm toying with the idea of cutting it down ...

But I still feel guilty about the tree that I had to have cut down at my last house ...

Is it a crime to cut down a big old tree?