Hedge cutting back query

[AndrewM]

I moved into a house last year that has a Lonicera (I think) hedge. This has been allowed to grow to almost head height and is so deep it bulges out over the shared drive so it overhangs by 18 inches or more. It is very difficult to reach the top and trim it now especially at the back.

I would like to cut this right back to reduce height and depth significantly but the foliage is only on the surface so it will end up looking horrible and completely bare afterwards. My question is whether it will recover and when I should do this if at all? I am not an expert gardener so any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Oliver Buckle]

Yes, it does look like lonicera, I can't tell from the photo, but all the honeysuckles have leaves in pairs opposite each other on the twig, does it do that?
I have cut lonicera that size down to six inches off the ground and it was back to eighteen inches in a year. On the other hand I have cut a bulging hedge back level and it never really greened up properly in that place.
Probably better to take it right down and trim it slightly each year as it comes back.
I can't remember the time of year I did it, but the impression I get is that that the stuff is impossible to kill without digging out the roots, and you are likely to find you missed a bit even then

 

[AndrewM]

Thank you. I think I will go for cutting right back in Spring.