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Hanwell is a town in the London Borough of Ealing. It is about 1.5 miles (2.4 km) west of Ealing Broadway and had a population of 28,768 as of 2011. It is the westernmost location of the London post town.

Hanwell is mentioned in the Domesday Book. St Mary's Church was established in the tenth century and has been rebuilt three times since, the present church dating to 1842. Schools were established around this time in Hanwell; notably Central London District School which Charlie Chaplin attended. By the end of the 19th century there were over one thousand houses in Hanwell. The Great Western Railway came in 1838 and Hanwell railway station opened. Later the trams of London United Tramways came on the Uxbridge Road in 1904, running from Chiswick to Southall. From 1894 it was its own urban district of Middlesex until being absorbed into Ealing Urban District in 1926.

To its west flows the River Brent, which marks Hanwell's boundary with Southall. There are several green spaces including Brent Valley Park, Elthorne Park and Cuckoo Park; meanwhile, the Hanwell Zoo is a popular local attraction featuring small mammals, birds and other wildlife. Its elevation is approximately 49 feet (15 m). The town holds its own annual Hanwell Carnival, London's oldest carnival.

The Hanwell flight of six locks raises the Grand Union Canal by just over 53 feet (16.2 m) and has been designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by English Heritage. At the top of the flight of locks towards Norwood Green is the Three Bridges designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel. It is still often referred to on maps by the original canal crossing name of Windmill Bridge and is very close to the spot where the eponymous windmill once stood; attracting the attention of a local Brentford artist, Joseph Mallard William Turner. However, there was also a windmill on the grounds where the Hanwell asylum once stood and the original name was Watermill Lane. So the true origine of the name appears to originate with the watermill that stood near to the club house of the local golf club house. This canal and flight of locks are actually within the boundary of Southall but are named after the local village of Hanwell, which is much closer than either of the villages of Norwood or Southall.

Brent Lodge Park and Animal Centre was acquired by Ealing Borough Council as a recreation ground in 1931 from Sir Montagu Sharpe (1856–1942), who had lived in Brent Lodge since 1884. The lodge itself, by then dilapidated, was demolished. The original stable block remains and is Grade II listed. For many years the park served as a 9-hole golf course requiring no more than a small driver and a putt, which could be hired together with a ball from a kiosk. Small boys would supplement their pocket money by retrieving lost balls from the river.

Another attraction was a large wired enclosure, within which unwanted pet rabbits (and tortoises, guinea pigs etc.) were given a new home. This inevitably led to it acquiring the nickname 'Bunny Park', which is still how most locals refer to it today. Later, the animal collection became more exotic as it began to receive and house imported animals that remained unclaimed after their period of compulsory quarantine had expired. Better enclosures were built and it has now become a small zoo and is a recognized member of the British and Irish Association of Zoos and Aquariums (BIAZA). As of April 2016, the animal centre has been renamed Hanwell Zoo, and is home to such animals as Mara, Capybara, Meerkats, Caribbean Flamingo and Crested Porcupine, Emperor Tamarin monkeys and Ring-tailed Lemurs.

The park has a modern and well-equipped children's playground. Clearly visible on Google Earth are the 2,000 yew trees that were planted to create the Millennium Maze. The entrance to the park is at the south-west side of St Mary's Church at the end of Church Road.

The park also has a coffee shop and a children's play area.