Borough in London, England
Ealing
Freddie Mercury studied here, Alec Guinness starred in classic comedies here, and a tree-lined suburb earned the title Queen of the Suburbs. Meet Ealing.
Key information
- County
- Greater London
- Nation
- England
- Population
- about 367,000 (2021 Census)
- Known for
- Ealing Studios and the Ealing comedies, Pitzhanger Manor, Southall's Punjabi community, the Hoover Building
- What locals are called
- Ealingites
- Famous people
- Freddie Mercury (studied here), Pete Townshend (studied here), Charlie Chaplin (schooled in Hanwell), Alec Guinness (Ealing comedy star)
About Ealing
The studio where the lavender hill mob went to work
Ealing is, for many people, a film genre. Between the late 1940s and the mid-1950s, Ealing Studios turned out a run of gentle, subversive British comedies: Passport to Pimlico, Whisky Galore!, Kind Hearts and Coronets, The Lavender Hill Mob, The Man in the White Suit and The Ladykillers. Alec Guinness starred in several of them, playing eight different members of one family in Kind Hearts and Coronets. The site on Ealing Green has been making films since the early 1900s, when Will Barker built a studio there in 1902. It claims to be the oldest continuously working film studio facility in the world. That longevity is real: the same lot later hosted Downton Abbey and the St Trinian's revivals. So when someone calls a film an Ealing comedy, they mean small-town eccentrics beating faceless authority with a shrug and a cup of tea. It all began a short walk from the Broadway.
Why a suburb got a royal title
Ealing's nickname is the Queen of the Suburbs, and it was earned the Victorian way. When the railway arrived in the 1830s and 1840s, Ealing became a place where City men could live among leafy avenues, large villas and a great deal of green. Ealing Common and Walpole Park gave the whole place a country-town feel while it was still within easy reach of central London. The title stuck because the layout stuck. Wide tree-lined roads, solid Victorian and Edwardian houses and a busy Broadway still define the central area. People who live there are Ealingites, and many are proud of the place's ability to feel like both a town and a suburb. The Elizabeth Line has since given it fast links across London, adding a modern commuter layer to a very old formula.
Soane's country retreat and a grand Art Deco factory
Ealing's landmark buildings are surprisingly varied. Pitzhanger Manor, beside Walpole Park, was bought by the architect Sir John Soane in 1800, who rebuilt it as his country villa. Soane, best known for the Bank of England, used it to try out ideas about light, arches and display. It later served as a library and reopened in 2019 after a major restoration, now a gallery and house museum. Head north-west to Perivale and you'll find the Hoover Building, a 1930s Art Deco showpiece on the A40 designed by Wallis, Gilbert and Partners. Its bold white façade, colourful details and stylised entrance made it one of the best-known factory buildings of its time. It is Grade II* listed and now houses a supermarket and flats. In Hanwell, the Flight of Locks on the Grand Union Canal lifts boats up a steep hill in a run of six locks, a quiet piece of industrial engineering with a towpath to match.
Little Punjab and a rock-and-roll classroom
Southall is probably the part of Ealing best known beyond London. Since the 1950s it has grown into a centre of Punjabi and wider South Asian life, and its Broadway is known for sweet shops, sari boutiques, spice merchants and restaurants. Gurdwaras, temples and mosques stand along the same streets. It's often nicknamed Little Punjab, and people travel across London for its curries, karahi dishes, fresh jalebi and vast buffets of Punjabi food. Ealing's other cultural export is music. In the early 1960s the Ealing Club on the Broadway was one of London's first rhythm-and-blues venues, where Alexis Korner helped nurture the scene that led to the Rolling Stones. Ealing Art College then turned out an astonishing alumni list: Pete Townshend of The Who studied there, as did Ronnie Wood and Freddie Mercury, who took a graphic art course before founding Queen. Few suburban art colleges can claim to have shaped quite so much of British rock.
Festivals, locks and a famous schoolboy
Ealing likes a festival. Its summer programme includes Ealing Jazz Festival, held in Walpole Park, and a long-running comedy festival that nods to the borough's film heritage. Pitzhanger's gardens and the park make a natural stage. The borough also has its quieter claims to fame. In Hanwell, young Charlie Chaplin spent part of his childhood at the Central London District School for destitute children, a very different start to life from the Hollywood fame that followed. On the sports field, Ealing Trailfinders are the local rugby union club, while Hanwell Town and Southall carry the non-league football banner. Along with Acton, Greenford, Northolt and Perivale, they make Ealing less one suburb than a whole patchwork of them.