Alternatives to tall fence in front garden?

[Pannacotta]

We need to replace the fence between us and our neighbours in the front.
At the moment it is tall close board fence, but it looks a bit unfriendly, so am thinking about alternatives before I suggest anything to the neighbours.
Not sure a native type hedge would look good (we don't have much space to play with) but did wonder about eg Yew or Holly maybe?
Any suggestions?
Ta

Alright Pannacotta. There's only room for one boring fence panel thread today

Ha ha mrsmaidamess, just saw your thread after I posted, that is so funny!!
On your dilemna I woudl go with trellis to 6 ft and try to fix it as Lily suggested, add some nice evergreen climbers to cover it all and hey presto!

Thankyou!

Got any tips for me?
Shoudl have posted in chat too...

Yew is very slow growing - why not go for native species such as beech or hornbeam
(Of course, you could test your neighbourliness with a nice leylandii hedge!)

Yes I read that Yew is slow, not that keen on Beech or Hornbeam, also we need something easy to clip as space is tight.
We just took a huge row of leylandii in the back so not too keen on putting nay in!!

What about panels made just of trellis? A bit more open than fencing but still can be softened with plants.

I suggested trellis as I thought it'd be much nicer and lighter, but they werent keen as their garden extends to the front so we can see them when we are out the front.

Will see if I can persuade them though...