Outside leaves turning brown on laurel hedge

I have a laurel hedge about 5 years old. It has been fine till this very cold snap and the outer - and mainly upper - leaves on a third of the hedge (all at one end) have started to go brown, as have a few of the shoots. Inside the hedge, the leaves and shoots appear healthy. There is an older hedge next door - the two are back to back - and this has only very minimal browning of the leaves. Is it frost or is it something more sinister? There was an old poplar on the site, but it was dug out years ago. Can I do anything other than wait till the Spring and see what happens?

 

Hello Richard and welcome to the forum.
I don't think you need to worry about your laurel hedge.
I used to have one and every winter some leaves turned brown but it always recovered. I think it's just weather damage. Laurel is very tough stuff and come spring I'm sure it will be back as good as new.