Burnt Oak is a sizeable and busy centre geared largely to the needs of the local, diverse ethnic communities. There are countless shops selling discounted goods including homeware, haberdashery, fabrics and fruit and vegetables.

The centre's location on the Edgware Road, combined with the attraction of Watling Market, means that it also draws people from a wide catchment area, thanks in part to the number of bus routes and tube station.

Brent Street is situated to the south of the Borough, with the focus being the Sentinel Square Shopping Centre anchored by a national supermarket. In addition there is a range of eating places and shops selling everything from exotic fruit, collectable dolls, kosher bakery and flowers. Many buses serve the centre and the Hendon Central tube station is only ten minutes walk away.

The name Burnt Oak seems to be first evidenced in 1754 and from then until the 1850s referred to no more than a field on the eastern side of the Edgware road. Nor is there any evidence that the name implies anything except that the field had once contained a burnt oak tree. In May 1844 Burnt Oak field was sold to a Mr Essex, and by the 1860s plans were already in place to build an estate of three residential streets: North Street, East Street, and South Street. The application of the field name to the area seems to have followed from this new estate and was in use by the end of the 19th century. Locals were supplied with a handful of shops by the 1890s. There was a local post office and grocer's, run by George and William Plumb, a baker's, run by Caller & Poole, as well as James Chappell (shop keeper), and James Huggett the greengrocer's. A tramway along the Edgware Road to Cricklewood opened in 1905, but the population remained very small - by 1921 still only around 1,000.

Burnt Oak Station was opened on 27th October 1924. It was first open on weekdays with a small booking hall suitable for a rural area. The intention was to complete the station when the area had been developed. As it was situated on farmland south east of the community in Edgware Road, the Underground constructed a new road, Watling Avenue. In the same year news leaked out that the London County Council was to build a new housing estate (the Watling Estate), which was ready for its first occupants in April 1927. With this estate and other private estates the Burnt Oak area was provided with a new tube station by 1928, and the population by 1931 had grown to 21,545 people. Along both sides of Watling Avenue shops were built, including Silk Stream Parade. In 1929 Jack Cohen used the name of Tesco's in Burnt Oak for the first time ever, and thus founded the giant chain of stores. In 1936 the Burnt Oak Market opened with a hundred covered shops and stalls, and the Co-op opened its "finest department store" at the junction of Stag Lane and Burnt Oak Broadway.