Tough but easy to grow shrub suggestions please.

[MrsGlennBulb]

My small rear garden slopes at a very gentle angle down to a public footpath. The back border has poor thin soil; it is east facing but with sideways sun from the south. It is backed by concrete joists to hold back the soil as the footpath is 40cm lower. I’d like to avoid making the border wider as the overall space is small enough now.

I can improve the soil to a limit, but root growth is restricted by the concrete joists.

I’m looking for a shrub which would tolerate these conditions and grow to 1.5m + to provide some privacy above the low wooden fence panels already in place (I’m not allowed to make these higher).

All suggestions appreciated, I’m no gardener!

You could try rosemary, cistus, ceanothus, or buddleia, all of which grow in poor soil to a reasonable height. I'm sure there are many others but those were the first to spring to mind.

Camelias

variegated holly if you want evergreen
also bay tree would easily grow to 3-4m if you want it to and can be cut back to the size you want.

I might do two small trees - say a holly at one side and a cherry or crab apple at the other to get both privacy and decorative interest.

Euonymous- there are several attractive varieties. Laurestinus - flowers all through the winter. Teucrium fruticans - pretty grey-green leaves and blue flowers loved by bees.
All these are evergreen.

I went to a gardening talk where the expert advised us to look at shrubs in car parks if we wanted plants that would thrive anywhere.

Choisya (mock orange) seems pretty hardy. Or lavender or rosemary?