What would you do with this forsythia?

[Wonderfulcheapfalafel]

My new garden is almost fully hedged with forsythia but this bit in particular looks a bit crap, very woody base and a big tangly mess on top which isn't even flowering as nicely as the other bits .(it's prob about 2.5 m tall here)

It acts as a screen from next door (although would prefer an evergreen hedge tbh) but if I need to cut it right back I guess I can do this after it's flowered. How much can I hack it back? It has a pretty big 'trunk'.
Forsythia is everywhere in this garden (front and back!) I mean, I like it but not this much! I've seen some gardens where it's a nice neat box hedge shape, that would be handy on the driveway, can I just use garden shears to cut it to right shape?

Any other ideas about pruning/replacing????

It's a funny shrub, mine is doing beautifully this year, but it's been a bit of a battle. I've been quite harsh with it, sort of not caring if it survived or not. It's lovely to have a good display of flowers at this time of year though.

I would tackle it quite hard when flowering is over. Once you have cut off all the old flowering stems go into the middle and cut out all the old wood until you have the sort of size and shape you want. That should trigger lots of new growth for next years flowers, which can be trimmed into shape.

Usually a 'harbinger of spring' plant is nice to have but, seeing as you have so many other forsythia in your garden, this individual plant isn't bringing that much to the party.
Forsythia are a bit of a one-season plant, they don't really have much going for them for the rest of the year.

You say that this is a new-to-you garden so I wouldn't take out this plant just yet. Think a bit more about the design of the whole garden and what you want from it; think in the round, not just this one plant.

The best time to prune forsythia is immediately after flowering, as they flower on the previous season's growth. So next year's flowers will appear on the branches it grows this year.

Look up 'renovation pruning' on the RHS website.

You can take forsythia pretty much back to the ground if you want to. It will regrow very happily next year. Or you can rip it out and replace it with something evergreen. Pittosporum is nice.

Agree with hacking it as much as you like after flowering.
But could it have 'bare knees' on purpose, as something else will pop up there?

Think twice about ripping it out, as it's early spring food that bees desperately need.

@TheSpottedZebra yes prob best to wait and see what happens but it's a bit of a sparse garden (think plastic carpet with tiny edging). I just think it is probably a neglected shrub/hedge
@ZeldaWillTellYourFortune I defo agree about helping the bees but there's a serious amount of forsythia in the garden so plenty to go around! Weirdly haven't seen any bees on it at all so far which is a bit worrying.
Eventually the plastic carpet will be removed and it will become a wildlife friendly garden but have very limited funds so having to put up with plastic desert for another year I expect.

White clover is easy to germinate and great for bees/wildlife, as an economical alternative to grass lawn, if you want to remove that plastic. It also withstands the sort of heat we've had in recent years, and adds nitrogen to the soil.

Thanks @ZeldaWillTellYourFortune , I am currently thinking of creating a Beth Chatto -esque gravel garden but can't afford to do anything major this year so still in planning mode. Might yet change mind and go for replacing with lawn... Needs to be cheap and something I can DIY!