Our Story
Unique To Windsor Since 1849
Long before Windsor became a destination, it was a working town. And long before visitors arrived by train or motor car, they arrived by horse. Windsor Carriages operates under one of the oldest commercial Hackney carriage licences in the country. For generations, that licence allowed horse-drawn carriages to stand outside Windsor Castle, ready to be hailed like any other taxi. Coachmen worked daily. Horses knew the rhythm of the town. It was transport, not theatre.
When the motor car replaced horse-drawn taxis across Britain, most licences disappeared. In Windsor, one endured.
It endured because it was treated as a responsibility. The licence passed from horseman to horseman. Not as a keepsake, but as a working obligation. Horses were trained properly. Carriages were maintained. Standards were upheld. The work continued because someone chose to keep doing it well.
I was raised within that world.
My father, John Seear, was a full-time Windsor coachman. My childhood was shaped by stable yards, early mornings, polished brass and the steady partnership between human and horse. I learned early that welfare comes first. That a horse is not machinery. That tradition survives only when it is respected.
But Windsor changed. Traffic increased. Security tightened. The Victorian Hackney rank we had occupied since 1849 closed to horse-drawn carriages in 1991. Motor taxis now wait where horses once stood. In the two decades that followed, we relocated five times as areas of the town were pedestrianised or closed to carriage access. The rhythm of the streets shifted. A horse and carriage waiting idly at the kerb belonged to another era. So the work evolved.
Today, nothing is hailed. Everything is hosted.
Hosted means there is a human team around every experience. Not just a coachman and his horse, but logistics planners, grooms, drivers, guides and support crew working quietly behind the scenes. Horses are transported to calm meeting points. Routes are monitored. Estate access is coordinated. Timings are adjusted around state visits, weather, and the rhythm of a living royal town.
We bring guests to the horses, not the other way round.
We plan the full day: Castle tickets, official guides, private dining, chauffeurs, river arrivals when appropriate. Sometimes we sit at the table with our guests. Conversation flows. Stories are shared. The carriage becomes part of something larger — a day shaped with intention.
We host only one visiting group or family per day.
Ascot arrivals and grand events are nothing new to us and have long formed part of Windsor’s story. You can read more about that evolution in Why Every Windsor Carriage Experience Is Hosted, Not Hailed: From Hackney Carriage Rank to Today.
As we have grown, that meaning has deepened. A portion of every commissioned visit is reinvested locally, supporting schools, charities and community initiatives. The town allowed this licence to continue. It is only right that it continues to serve the town in return.
My last summer with my father on the carriage (pictured), remains important to me. Knowing that this craft and tradition outlived him — and will outlive me — gives it weight. Guests often feel that too.
You become part of a story that stretches behind you and beyond you. In turn, we become part of yours.
This story does not belong to one person, nor to one moment in time. It lives in the history of the licence, in the horsemen who upheld it, in the horses who shaped the work, and in the team who now support its daily operation. It continues in the coachmen working today — and in their children, who will one day take on the licence, not as a possession, but as a responsibility passed forward.
You can read more below about the history of Hackney carriage work in Windsor, the coachmen before us, and the Landau carriage restoration project that has carried this licence through time.
Windsor evolves. The traditions that survive are those willing to evolve with it.
The Coachman &
Their Carriage
Passed from licence to licence, coachman to coachman, the Landau carriage endured. Its 165 years of survival is not the result of chance or ownership, but of continuity, responsibility, and duty. That continuity was not theoretical. It rested on something tangible — a single carriage entrusted to each generation in turn.
THOUGHTFULLY GUIDED & HOSTED
For some visits, this looks intimate and familial. For others, it extends to estate luncheons, team gatherings up to 96 guests, or occasions held beneath the oaks. However it takes shape, your experience is guided, coordinated, and cared for, so you can remain present, rather than managing the details.
‘Thank you for all the careful planning and patience. Our clients were absolutely delighted"
Windsor Hospitality, Properly Hosted
