Hounslow

Hounslow has been taking money off travellers since the highwaymen worked the Heath, and the modern version is a Piccadilly line ticket and a high street that knows exactly who's in a hurry. Most of London knows it only as the run of Tube stops between Hammersmith and the duty-free. The people who live here are fine with that, since three stations and a flight path overhead is a lot of town for the price. Estate agents call it the gateway to West London, and a gateway is the thing everyone walks through without looking at.