Hounslow Then & Now: From Heath to Heart of Desi London

Two centuries ago, Hounslow Heath was one of the most feared stretches of road in England — a haunt of highwaymen on the coach route to the West Country. Today the same patch of West London is one of the most colourful, multicultural neighbourhoods in the UK, and the unofficial Bollywood capital of Britain.

Walk down Kingsley Road or the High Street and you'll hear five languages in a single block — Punjabi, Hindi, Gujarati, Tamil, Somali. You'll smell jalebi from one shop and tandoori smoke from the next. You'll pass sari boutiques next to barbers next to a venue like Baithak that screens the Premier League and the IPL on the same week.

Baithak is built for that Hounslow — the one that grew up between worlds. A Bollywood mural on one wall, a Sky Sports feed on the other. Karaoke on Thursday, the FA Cup on Saturday. Old Monk on the back bar, Bombay Sapphire on the front. This is the Hounslow we love.