Hornbeam advice - ditch it or prune it?

Hi everyone, your advice would be much appreciated. I have a small, urban garden. In one corner is a young, but very vigorous hornbeam tree. It's about 8m tall already with a trunk circumference of 30-40cm. It's very happy in that spot and it grows a good couple of feet every year. Take a look at the photo. I don't know exactly what type of carpinus betulus it is, but Google tells me it'll grow to 25m - and I think that's too large for my space.

My first thought was to dig it up. I don't like doing this to healthy plants, but better now than later when it's even bigger. Hornbeams are famously hard woods, so it's going to be a tough job.

My second thought is to prune it. I know they're popular hedge plants and it won't mind a severe cut-back in the early spring. It's too late to make it shrub-like but I was thinking I could lop off the top and then cut the lower branches into a nice shape - just shorter and smaller. I know this commits me to an annual pruning job which I'm not over-joyed about - and I've read that the grow-back can make it look very twiggy. So I'm undecided..... What do you think?

 

My thoughts with large trees are, if you are going to grow them in a smallish garden you need to be prepared to keep them under control.
Some can still be good to look at if you prune them annually or often biannually.

If you dont think its something you want to do, then you need to get rid of them before they become a job for a professional tree surgeon to cut them down.

Got to say, I'm hot a fan of trees like Hornbeam.

 

I'm not sure I like the look of trees that are cut back to a set frame work of trunk and branches each year as some of the examples I have seen don't look very well to me. Have you considered coppicing it down to a single stump and letting it shoot up from there? It would look more shrub like in summer and it might provide a supply of useful stakes or plant supports if you chop it down again when the shoots are at a size you might find useful.

 

Thanks both. I think I will try cutting it back, perhaps coppicing it as Macraignil suggests, and see how it grows back for a year or two. if it doesn't work out, at least I tried!