Please help- what is this plant?

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I know nothing about gardening, but don’t want to upset the neighbours! so what is this and how do I cut it back? Thanks

Is it a bay tree ?

Yes it's a bay. I think it just needs shaping back into a ball so just cut off the straggly bits round the outside.

And when you prune it, I guess you can keep green leaves and dry them for cooking?
(You'll be able to tell for sure it's a bay from the smell if you crumple a leaf in your fingers and sniff)

Give it the sniff test as you prune it. Bay leaves have a distinctly herby smell.
There are very few shrubs that are common in gardens in the uk that won't take a harsh prune so don't worry about being too eager. It will grow back even if you cut lower than the last green leaf/bud.

The ones to watch out for are lavender, hebe, Rosemary as they don't grow back if you cut below the green.

As for herbaceous stuff, if it's soft and going brown/mushy then cut it right down to the ground, the frost will do that anyway. AMD it will grow back from below ground level not where you cut to.

Gardening is not some kind of witch craft like many will lead you to believe. In actual fact most gardens have the same kind of plants in with a few exceptions. I'm a gardener and have worked in over 250 average gardens!

I'm not convinced that's a bay. The leaves are not dark green, they're a bit too wavy, and they're a bit too wide at the middle.

But general rule of thumb for pruning something you don't recognise is prune just after it flowers. Plants that flower late summer are best pruned late winter rather than early winter.

Leaves on a bay tree also tend to stick upwards rather than hang down, like this one

Hmm yes good point. Well I guess the OP can tell easily enough by taking off a leaf and crushing it. They stink.

I think the leaves are too wide for pittosporum?

Not sure it’s bay. Their leaves are more of an emerald colour, and also tend to go bright yellow when they die, not this brown.

Can you post a close up?

Could it be eleagnus ebbingei?

If so hard pruning is fine.(I had a couple where I lived before.)

Don’t think it is bay, doesn’t smell aromatic at all! Also leaves aren’t glossy. Not sure it looks like eleagnus ebbingei either. Will take a close up but it’s too dark/rainy right now! Thanks for everyone’s input.

In the photo from the original house listing I can see it was bright green and pruned into a big round ball earlier in the year, so I am guessing I can cut it back to that round shape again?!

Oh and just for a laugh, I downloaded a plant identifier app. It suggested it was a guava tree! 🤣

Another type of Laurel ?

Yes you can definitely prune back to the previous shape. Then have another go at identifying it when it flowers. If it flowers.

If it flowers. It will flower, unless it's so far from it's natural habitat that it can't manage to produce a flower, or it's a winter flowerer so pruning in winter takes all the flowering stems off. But the flowers may be so small that you don't recognise them as flowers.