Locale Acton

Acton comes from the Anglo-Saxon, meaning Oak Town. Acton was a village before the urban sprawl of the early twentieth century, when many people including property developers and builders moved into the area. The area is mainly residential and serves as a commuter location for residents travelling into London. Due to its residential nature, Acton has a number of popular and diverse restaurants including the only Nepalese restaurant in the W3/W4 area. One of the most popular venues is the George and Dragon pub which hosts quizzes and the occasional local art show.

What Acton is famous for

  • Soapsud Island

In the 1920s, Acton became famous for being a centre for launderies. This provided employment for the area, later to be supplanted and replaced by engineering firms.

  • Site of an aerodrome

What is currently the Park Royal leisure complex (aka [Acton Park Warner Village]?), and the Concorde Way industrial park, was a very important air field in WWI. In 1910 it was the take-off point for the first ever air mail (flown by Claud Graham-White) to Birmingham.

  • BBC people

Being situated midway between Ealing studios, and Shepherd's Bush, many BBC types lived (and still do live) in Acton.

Also, Acton has been used as a film shoot location for Minder, Only Fools and Horses, Eastenders and Monty Python.

Stations

There are four tube stations and three surface stations with Acton in the name:

Pubs

Acton has many pubs, but very few good pubs.

Recommendations: --IvorW

Acton Websites


Neighbouring locales: Ealing / Park Royal / Shepherd's Bush / [Harlesden]? / Chiswick / Hammersmith

Last edited 2009-03-10 13:06:58 (version 14; diff). List all versions.