Overgrown gooseberries

[davholla]

I have some very overgrown gooseberries - please be gentle I have the flu.
Any advice on how to prune them - I guess drastically with trying to make them as open as possible.

Do I want to remove old or new growth? And how do I tell the difference?

[davholla]

[Debs]

I've inherited a plot which had overgrown gooseberries which were competing with nettles and creeping buttercup.
I've pruned them quite hard to tidy them and hopefully invigorate them, but I'm not expecting much if anything from them this year

[Deb P]

To start I would take the protection surrounding them off and dig out the brambles that are competing with them and clear and weeds/ grass from the base. They look like quite large plants so will survive a decent pruning, but you might not get fruits this year.Wear gloves and cut out any dead branches first,(right to the base if necessary) then any branches that are crossing others or rubbing on another branch. Then cut branches that are showing signs of life back by at least a third in length, weak spindly ones can be cut right out completely. Aim to thin out the centre to let more light and air in. Lastly water them well then mulch the bushes with manure or compost. 

[davholla]

To start I would take the protection surrounding them off and dig out the brambles that are competing with them and clear and weeds/ grass from the base. They look like quite large plants so will survive a decent pruning, but you might not get fruits this year.Wear gloves and cut out any dead branches first,(right to the base if necessary) then any branches that are crossing others or rubbing on another branch. Then cut branches that are showing signs of life back by at least a third in length, weak spindly ones can be cut right out completely. Aim to thin out the centre to let more light and air in. Lastly water them well then mulch the bushes with manure or compost. 

Thank you that is what I did apart from mulching which I will do soon.