The Treaty Centre, High Street, Hounslow - 0845 456 2929 visit@cityoflondon.gov.uk

Hounslow is the principal town in the London Borough of Hounslow in Greater London and is part of the historic county of Middlesex. It is a suburban district 10.6 miles (17 km) west south-west of Charing Cross. It forms a larger post town in the TW postcode area and is an economic hub within the capital; it has a large shopping centre which adjoins its high street and a large number of restaurants, cafés and small businesses, many of which are associated with product assembly, marketing, telecommunications and London Heathrow Airport. A minority of its workers are employed in Central London, to which the town is connected by rail and tube. Hounslow is part of the TW3 postcode area, though some areas to the west are in TW4 instead. The population of the town, comprising the Hounslow Central, Hounslow Heath and Hounslow South wards, was 41,304 in the 2011 census.

The name Hounslow is spelt in old records as 'Hundeslow' and similar, pointing to Anglo-Saxon Hundes hlaw, meaning "the dog's mound" or "the mound of a man named or nicknamed Hound".

Hounslow Heath is a large public open space and local nature reserve to the west of the borough. It now covers about 200 acres (80 ha), the residue of the historic Hounslow Heath that covered over 4,000 acres (1,600 ha).

The Heath has major historical importance: routes from London to the west and southwest of Britain used to pass through it. Staines Road, the northern boundary of the present Heath, was the Roman Road, Trinobantes. There are several historic references to Roman camps on or close to the Heath. Continuous recorded history dates back to Norman times. It gave its name to the former hamlet of Heathrow.

Hounslow has a very high immigration rate. According to the 2011 Census, more than 50% of Hounslow residents are born outside of the UK.