Central Acton is synonymous with the hub of commerce and retail on the former main road between London and Oxford (the Uxbridge Road); a reminder of its history is in its inns, which in some cases date back to the late Tudor period as stopping places for travellers.

It begins with a cluster of Upper Palaeolithic and Mesolithic flint cores,[5] flakes[5] and artefacts[5] mainly to the north of Churchfield Road.

At Church Acton most of the farmhouses lay along the Oxford road or Horn Lane, with only a few outlying farms.

Gregories, mentioned in 1551 as a copyhold tenement with 30 a. near Bollo Lane and the Brentford high road, probably lay in Acton.

[4] Londoners were increasingly involved in land sales from the early 14th century but apparently did not live in Acton until the late 15th.

Sir John Trevor MP bought several Acton properties in the mid 17th century, including Berrymead/Berrymede, improving it with a lake and stream, home of George Savile, 1st Marquess of Halifax and his second son after him, and afterwards of the Duke of Kingston-upon-Hull, with a much-praised landscape.

[4] Acton was lauded as "blessed with very sweet air" in 1706 by rector urging a friend in verse to move there.

These laundries would serve hotels and the rich in London's West End, leading to the nickname "Soapsuds Island" or "Soap Sud City".

[citation needed] The parish of Acton formed a local board of health in 1865 and became an urban district in 1894.

[citation needed] Alfred Mond built a nickel carbonyl refinery here that was able to produce platinum as a by-product of the matte from Inco's Sudbury Basin operations.

[11] Further south Acton Vale had manufacturers including Napier & Son (engines), H. Bronnley & Co (Soaps), Evershed & Vignoles (electrical equipment), Lucas CAV (automotive electrical), Vandervell Products (bearings), and Wilkinson Sword (swords and razors).

[citation needed] Acton is now principally residential, with some light industry, particularly in the northeast Park Royal area, and the south near the border with Chiswick.

Waitrose was founded on Acton High Street near the police station, as Waite, Rose and Taylor, with its second shop opening in Churchfield Road in 1913.

In recent years, a number of Antipodean immigrants have settled there; there are several Australian and South African pubs concentrated in a small area.

East Acton's King Fahd Academy also attracted Arab and mainly Saudi immigrants to the area.

Acton's library, swimming baths (built in 1904) and Town Hall are examples of tall Victorian municipal buildings that can be found along the High Street.

[18] An indoor climbing wall opened on the high street, housed in a building constructed in the 1920s as an Art Deco cinema.

The park also features a large children's play area including, an adventure playground partially created from local trees felled during a storm, a pond, an art block and a skate park, run by the Ealing Skatepark Association,[21] which opened in April 2019.

Acton is also the only place in London to have stations named after all four of its cardinal points, north, south, east, and west.

North Acton has a large Great Western Railway housing estate (now privately owned),[47] and the Old Oak Common TMD railway depot is within the usual boundary, as is the London Transport Museum Depot which houses an extensive collection of historic and heritage rolling stock.

Acton Main Line station has a busy freight yard (operating ballast and container trains).

[50] The West London Tram was finally scrapped when former Prime Minister Gordon Brown agreed that the long-awaited Crossrail would go ahead in October 2007.