I have cut a mature laurel hard before and it came back fine. So prune first and if it isn't what you want then yes dig it out but it will be a demanding job. In the past I have dug most of the soil away and then using a saw cut through the main roots.

You can hard prune Spotted laurel right down if you so wish ,it will respond with vigour, you could grub out one of the multi stems near the base, quite simple to do, but if it were me I would renovate it by hard pruning, give it a good bucket of water once you have pruned it, new buds will quickly form after a few weeks.

Laurels have huge roots. When I dug one out it left a hole big enough to make a pond (actually OH dug it out!).

Spotted Laurel is not a Laurel...it is Aucuba japonica...and is less in rigorousness than a Laurel, so discard those replies. 15 years plus of roots then it should rebound but may equally sulk for a year or more.

You're right, Botanic, I didn't notice the spotted bit! Just shows how much better it is to use the scientific name. Much less of a daunting task to dig Aucuba japonica out if necessary.

I did notice it was the spotted laurel and I have treated an over grown one in the way I described. So my advice still stands.