What kind of evergreen bushes/plants wound be best suited for a front garden hedge?

It is not easy to answer your question without knowing the height at which you wish to maintain the hedge. Nor do you give the aspect of the garden. Take a serious look at yew. Not as slow growing as is generally thought and not prone to developing bald patches. It can shoot from old thick branches and can therefore be easily renovated. Easy to clip. A classic English hedge. Holly (Ilex) is slow and can produce open sections unless well maintained. Beech is not evergreen but keeps its withered leaves on over winter. Pyracantha is relatively fast, flowers in late Spring and produces berries in the Winter. Is not really neat enough for me, a little too informal. Box is slow but neat and effective for smaller hedges. Can be prone to odd branches dying out. Privet (Ligustrum) can look wonderful but is A bit 'non-U.'

Laurel needs cutting with secatures because with a hedge trimmer the leaves are cut and they go brown and look horrid. I favour Yew but it needs good soil preparation and is a fairly slow grower. Thuja will cut back in to old wood and only needs one cut a year to keep tidy but looks similar to conifers it smells nicer though. Privet needs a lot of clipping to keep tidy. Photinia needs regular secature cutting again because the leaves are large and get cut trough with hedge trimmers. Lots of ideas on plant web sites and you can always contact the advertisers and ask for advice.

Laurel ? That's one of the most labour intensive hedges in the world ! Beech, if you wanted to be flash you could have alternating colours, box is great to just whizz hedge clippers over and have fine clippings, again can be variegated or mixed. http://www.ashridgetrees.co.uk/Evergreen-Hedging has a great explanation growth rates, height, maintenance etc

Euonymus. Fast growing, easy, and inexpensive. Two especially pretty varieties: Emerald and Gold: http://c.photoshelter.com/img-get/I00004HYNeHnAh4w/s/750/750/Euonymus-fortunei-Emerald-N-Gold-J010152.jpg Moonshadow: http://www.westonnurseries.com/_ccLib/image/plants/DETA-810.jpg

Cedar hedges grow quickly and are very easy to look after. Just trim them once a year to keep them the size and shape you want. http://www.google.ca/images?q=cedar+hedge&rls=com.microsoft:en-us:IE-SearchBox&oe=UTF-8&rlz=1I7GZEU_en&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=univ&ei=FgJMTaLuLIqugQeR1NjWDw&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=1&ved=0CCkQsAQwAA&biw=1003&bih=563

Photinia, Lonicera nitida, Prunus laurocerasus (not ordinary laurel), Ilex Taxus etc etc Best to do a google image search on the named genus.

Could also look at Griselinia, either plain green or variegated.

Pyrocanthia. It is evergreen, has a red or yellow berry in the winter that birds love & lots of thorns to keep people out.

laurel