Earlestown is named after Sir Hardman Earle (11 July 1792 – 25 January 1877) a slave owner whose family was steeped in the slave trade. He was the Chairman of the London and North Western Railway.

Earlestown Town Hall is an imposing building, fronted by a war memorial. In 1962 the Beatles  visited Earlestown for a night gig and played at the town hall. On the  same night Newton Boys Club on Graffton Street was opened by Frankie  Vaughan for the local community.[6]

Another significant building included the art-deco former Curzon cinema which was demolished in January 2010.

Earlestown has a small but busy town centre with many shops including high-street outlets such as Tesco, Boots, Wilko and several high street banks alongside independent retailers,  bookmakers and fast-food takeaways. There are a range of traditional  pubs, such as The New Market, The Ram's Head, The Railway Inn, The  Griffin, and The Wellington. Earlestown is well served by many fast food outlets offering a good range of Indian and Chinese dishes as well as fish and chips and the ubiquitous McDonald's.  Most of the local restaurants are curry houses; Earlestown's 'curry  quarter-of-a-mile' on Queen Street has three Indian restaurants and a  Tandoori take-away.