Can you help identify this plant?

[NewUserIDRequired]

Our garden is mostly my domain but after having two DC in three years and so having a severe lack of time, it is very neglected. I really want to sort it out this summer. I've noticed that this plant has started growing - i tried using Google lens and a plant app but I'm not confident enough to know if the suggestions it is making are accurate. The pictures might take a minute to load but wondering if any of you can help. It hasn't flowered ever yet which makes it harder to tell. It's quite close to the patio so if it's something that we should consider keeping, I'm tempted to move it further down the garden in the winter but I don't want to risk killing it if it's not going to be that big!

Cherry plum according to Google lens.

Looks like a fruit tree - possibly prunus? The shape was possibly esplanade but hasn't been maintained?

If you aren't getting blossom you won't get any fruit, which suggests it might not be in the best place anyway.

Thank you. It definitely hasn't been maintained! It has sown itself - maybe from something on the other side of the fence? But the possible tree next door was planted by the previous owners and the current owners don't know either. And I haven't seen what colour that blossom is either. But at least this gives me a start. It's in the driest hottest part of the garden (London) in full sun so maybe it needs to be somewhere that isn't so intense?

Thank you

If you didn't plant it it's reasonably likely to be a sucker from a nearby cherry or plum tree - I have millions growing in my garden. I'm afraid it's all but impossible to get rid of them, I mow them down with a tractor!

Oh gosh, ok, good to know!

It could be something lovely though. It looks a lot like my apricot tree and the fact that it is flat against the fence makes me think it might have been espaliered at some point? I would leave it for a while and see what happens.

It definitely grew after the fence was installed. In 2019, the fence blew down and we and the previous neighbours put the new one up - there were no trees on either side at that time because for a few weeks we had no fence and the lawns just intermingled. We then painted our side in 2021 (DH finished it two days before I went into labour with DD1 - his version of nesting I think! 😅) and im sure it wasn't there then as i dont remember him having to work around it to do the painting. So that would make it no more than 4yrs old? I hope it is something lovely!

If you didn't plant it and you didn't move house recently then I would take it out. It is very likely to be a wild cherry dropped by a bird.

Does it have spikes on the stems? Could be a hawthorn. Personally I’d get rid of it. They really grow quite big and the spikes are huge and pop footballs