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Southall suburb in the London Borough of Ealing, in the Brentford parliamentary division of England.
Southall is located on the historic Grand Union Canal (formerly the Grand Junction Canal) which first linked London with the rest of the growing canal system, was one of the last canals to carry significant commercial traffic (through the 1950s), and is still open to traffic and used by pleasure craft.
The opening of the canal in 1796 began a commercial boom, intensified by the arrival of the Great Western Railroad in 1839, leading to the establishment and growth of the brick factories, flour mills and chemical plants which once formed its commercial base. In 1877 a ceramics factory began producing Martinware, and in 1894 Otto Monsted founded a margarine plant which at one point occupied 68 acres and was the largest such plant in the world.
A collection of Martinware, including salt-glazed stoneware, grotesque faces, and birds is on display at Southall Library; however, the largest collection is at Pitzhanger Manor-House in nearby Ealing.
As of 2004 Southall is primarily a Asian residential district. Southall is informally known as "little India" and there were even recent serious attempts to officially rename it "Punjabtown." Over 55% of Southall's population of 70,000 is of Indian or Pakistani origin. Southall contains the largest Asian shopping center in the London area, and contains many Asian restaurants. The Sikh gurdwara in Southall won the Ealing Civic Society Architectural Award in 2003. Southall is home to three Hindu temples: the Baba Balaknathji, the Rama Mandir, and the Vishwa Hindu Mandir. The Indian and Pakistani populations have been described as "blending seamlessly" with little ethnic tension.
The main street in Southall is called The Broadway. Southall is famous for its large number of ethnic Indian restaurants and shops. One of the most famous restaurants is the Punjabee Restaurant, which is located at 118 The Broadway. Other famous restaurants include Gifto's Lahore and Tandoori Express in Jalebi Junction. The Broadway street was featured in the film Bend It Like Beckham (the scene where Jess goes shopping with her sister at the beginning of the film). Southall also has several pubs, including The Glassy Junction, which was the first UK Pub to accept Indian rupees. The Glassy Junction also serves several Indian draught beers, including Kingfisher and Lal Toofan. Of late, however, Southall has been inundated with Afghan refugees, who seem to have vexed the local population with their consistent begging and petty thievery. Nonetheless, the place has its charm and has great, cheap eateries.
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