Probably a mineral deficiency of some sort, or could just need re-potting and feeding. Someone on here will know, all I know is I had a Skimmia in a pot which looked similar and picked up when it was planted in the garden. Wait for an expert to tell you the exact problem.

Looking at the container its in, I would say its starting to outgrow it. If you can, move it to a bigger one, with some fresh compost, J.Innes No. 3 if possible. If not, remove it from the pot, knock off most of the compost, prune the roots to promote some new growth, replant it with some new compost, and prune the top growth. I'm no expert, but that's what I would do. I hard pruned mine last year and it suffered no ill effects. Alternatively, you could just remove the top of the compost and add a good couple inches of new and give it a good feed.

Hi, I agree with the others, it needs repotting into a much larger pot, or preferably into the ground, Laurus nobilis wants to grow into a medium sized tree, about 40 ft high x 30 ft wide, and as this is only frost hardy, the foliage could be damaged by cold drying winds, so will need some protection, Derek.

Thanks for all the help. I'll see if I can find a spot in the garden to plant it. But it is so useful near the kitchen door, where I can pop out and cut a few leaves when I need them!

Hi, Canalhopper. I have always understood that one should keep the leaves of bay for two years before using, let them dry & keep a lot in a tin. One shouldn't use them fresh, tho' I've heard of lots of folk who do & seem to suffer no ill effects.

Goodness, what sort of ill effects do you mean Feverfew? I've always used them fresh.

Apparantley the leaves contain menthol & eucalyptus. I googled "ask the food lab", & if I've read it aright, they said not to subsitite dried bay leaves with fresh & to keep a good supply of dried ones in the freezer. However I gather it's more to do with flavours than anything. They go on about two types of bay, Californian & Turkish, which I don't know anything about. From what I'd read years ago, I understood that the fresh leaves had harmful volatile oils in them so I've always gone with that advice, but I do know that people use them fresh & find them ok.

According to this website Californian bay leaves have a lot of menthol and eucalyptus oils in them and they make any dish to which you add them taste like cough drops. https://www.chowhound.com/post/difference-california-turkish-bay-leaf-961295
I did not realise there was different types and I use mine from the garden fresh or freeze them. I grew it from a cutting from a bay tree in a privately owned walled garden just north of us.

I've never noticed beef tasting of eucalyptus but as my bay now needs pruning I'll dry the leaves...

I think it is impossible not to get the nasty taste Steragram so you are probably safe to continue using your bay leaves as you have in the past.

Thanks for all the comments. I've been using fresh bay leaves for a couple os years, and not noticed any unpleasant taste or after effects.
Having just browsed though the internet, it appears that people use fresh and dried, and each have their own opinions!