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West London is one of the most economically active areas of London with a vibrant local economy where blue-chip international conglomerates sit comfortably alongside a mix of urban and suburban residential communities. Strategically located between Heathrow Airport and Central London, the six Boroughs that make up West London (Brent, Ealing, Hammersmith & Fulham, Harrow, Hillingdon and Hounslow) are home to 1.4 million people and a workforce of 750,000 - a population grater than the UK's second city, Birmingham.

The area boasts the world's busiest airport, Heathrow; Europe's largest industrial estate, Park Royal; and Britain 's newest stadium, Wembley. All of which means that West London contributes some £27 billion a year to the UK economy. And not forgetting the fact that this is also the entertainment and leisure hub of the capital.

Then and now
When the post-war decentralisation plan was put in place – a programme designed to relinquish the vulnerability of the capital's industries, a harsh lesson learned during its Second World War experience – a significant concentration of manufacturing industries remained in West London . And today, this part of the capital has the highest concentration of manufacturing and light engineering businesses.

Despite the regional and national decline of this sector over the last twenty years, the manufacturing sector continues to play an important role in the local economy, albeit a less significant one that previously. Indeed, West London is the only place in the UK – with the exception of Northern Ireland - that hasn't succumbed to a mass wave of manufacturing redundancies in recent year. With around 53,000 people out of a total local workforce of 750,000 plying their trade within this sector, a high number of these jobs are concentrated in and around the Park Royal area in Ealing Brentford – the largest industrial estate in Europe . Carillion and GlaxoSmithKline remain the leading employers in this sector.

However, West London has followed the national trend of diversifying its economy away from being industry-led to service-led. Indeed, almost 90 per cent of the workforce is now employed in the service sector - at the forefront of which is the Distribution, hotels & restaurants sector – aka ‘tourism'.

With the West End and Soho being the cultural, entertainment and leisure hub of the capital attracting some 200 million visitors a year – 50 per cent from overseas – it is hardly surprising that the tourism sector is the biggest provider of jobs in West London. Overall this sector employs around 232,000 (31 per cent of the district workforce) people in the district.

After the tourism sector, the public sector is the main employer in West London . With a population of 1.47 million people across its six Boroughs', it follows that around 30-33 per cent of the district's workforce is employed within the fields of public administration, health and education. Indeed, some of the biggest employers in West London include public sector organisations such as Acton , Hammersmith and Charing Cross Hospital 's along with the district's five further education colleges and two universities.

Geographically located between the historic economic powerhouse of Central London and the high growth businesses of the Thames Valley region, West London 's hi-tech sector is growing apace, with the likes of Cisco Systems driving this industry forward. Whilst the district's close proximity to the City has buoyed West London 's finance sector, which is now the third biggest employer in the area representing almost 1 in 3 of all jobs.

West London 's media cluster is continuing to show signs of growth. With ever-changing nature of the media sector in terms of new and improved media platforms entering the market, from print to digital, demand for advertising, public relations and design personnel will continue to rise and the media sector is widely recognised as a growth industry. And especially in this part of London, which is the leading media centre in the UK with around 29,000 people working in this sector for a number of leading names, including BSkyB, JC Decaux, the outside advertising specialists, Walt Disney, Harper-Collins, and the BBC at White City - although plans to relocate a number of the “Beeb's” operations area being put into place.

As the world's busiest airport, Heathrow Airport is central to the local economy and has sustained a thriving food-based industry that boasts the likes of Coca-Cola, Katsouris Fresh Foods, Gate Gourmet (now owned by a consortium of 40 organisations) and Fullers Brewery at its helm.

West London has 17 per cent of all London 's jobs and an increasingly vital contribution to the local economy is being made by the independent sector. Since the mid-1990s, West London 's economy has grown at a healthy rate of around 4 per cent and much of this is attributable to the number of new business start-ups in the district. Indeed, two-thirds of workers make their living in small and medium-sized businesses.

Key business districts
West London is undeniably the industrial heartland of the capital and, as such, is awash with dedicated industrial developments including Park Royal - Europe 's largest industrial estate covering 650 acres. Park Royal is regarded as London 's premier commercial location for manufacturing, especially food and drink, warehousing, distribution & logistics and creative industries as well as a number general offices.

Within park Royal itself there are a number of separate sub-industrial- and business parks, including Powergate business park, Victoria Industrial Estate, Hythe Road Industrial Estate, Park Royal Industrial Centre, Genesis Business Park Origin Park and Origin Park .

Within the borough are the local centres of Shepherd's Bush, Hammersmith, Fulham and White City , the latter of which is the location of the principal operating centre for the BBC for the time being at least, and the site of a vast new shopping complex which opened in 2008.

Elsewhere, Greenford Industrial Estate, Staples Corner Business Park , Polar Park and Heathrow Corporate Park are located close to and around the Heathrow Airport area.

If you're thinking of moving to the area, take a look at some of the current property available to buy or let in West London.

Take a closer look
A picture is worth a thousand words. You can see some images from in and around West London below.

Looking for local vacancies? See all current jobs in West London or find out more information on the local area.