A British Tradition. Thoughtfully Evolved.
Over 170 Years. One Living Tradition.
Britain's Last Licensed Hackney Carriage Trade
Trade · Craft · Heritage · Hospitality
A Living Windsor Trade
Discover Windsor with the people who have continued its carriage trade across generations.
Travel through the Estate along avenues our carriages have known for generations. Hear stories handed from one coachman and family to the next, meet the working horses at the heart of the tradition and discover a thread of British Estate life that has all but disappeared elsewhere.
Pause beneath ancient oaks for Windsor Estate hospitality. Follow old carriage roads through a landscape of deer, villages and Royal tradition. Here, horses and carriages are not a recreation of the past, but part of a living trade that still belongs to the landscape.
For your time with us, your horse, historic carriage and professional carriage team are brought into Windsor specifically for you. Behind every visit is a local team quietly coordinating the permissions, routes, timings and changing activity of the town and working Estate.
What begins as a journey by carriage becomes a much deeper encounter with Windsor, its people, stories, traditions and landscape. This is our Windsor. We would be delighted to share it with you.
"Without question, the highlight of our entire UK and Europe vacation.”
THOUGHTFULLY GUIDED & HOSTED
Our clients come to us for a deeper connection with Windsor. For the stories, the people, the traditions and the small details that bring this remarkable place to life.
Travelling by horse-drawn carriage is a wonderful part of that experience, and one deeply connected to Windsor's history. But it is rarely the part our guests talk about most afterwards.
They remember the coachman who introduced them to their horse. The stories shared along the way. A glass of Estate wine beneath the trees. The places we paused and the people they met.
Our carriages may be how we travel through Windsor. It is our team, our knowledge and the way we look after our guests that turns the journey into something they remember.
‘“Everything felt intentional, personal, and deeply special."
Hosted Quietly. Remembered For Years.
How has a Victorian taxi
survived into the 21st century?
A LICENSE PASSED FROM GENERATION TO GENERATION
1800’s
We were Windsor's taxis. Licensed horse-drawn hackney carriages carried residents and visitors through Windsor long before the motorcar.
1900’s
The motorcar arrived.
Hackney Carriages became the motor taxis we recognise today. We continued with the horse and carriage.
TODAY
The original licence. The trade still at work. More than a century later, Windsor Carriages remains part of Windsor's licensed Hackney Carriage trade.
The Coachmans Daughter
I grew up on Windsor’s carriages. My father drove them here for more than 50 years, and his passion for the horses, the trade and this remarkable place became mine.
The challenge for my generation has been rather different. How do you continue a Victorian taxi trade more than a century after the motorcar replaced it almost everywhere else in Britain?
My role has been to find a way for the trade to have a place in modern Windsor without losing what makes it real: the horses, the coachmen, the professional standards, the inherited knowledge and the traditions passed from one generation to the next.
Today, that passion belongs not only to my family, but to the coachmen and families who work alongside us and are helping carry the trade forward. We now welcome guests from around the world, working privately with individuals and families, family offices, travel advisors and agents, and companies bringing their guests to Windsor. My role remains much the same: to host, guide and take care of the people who place their time in Windsor in our hands.
In this short film, I share a little of that story, and what it means to be its custodian today.
Many Ways to Continue One Tradition
From an intimate private visit to a significant company gathering, each commission gives Windsor’s historic carriage trade a meaningful place in the life of the town today. The occasion may change, but the purpose remains the same: real work for the horses, carriages and people whose skills keep this living tradition alive.
A private winter visit shaped around Windsor traditions, the Estate and seasonal hospitality.
The Tradition Continues Today
Windsor Carriages remains part of Windsor's licensed Hackney Carriage trade, the same taxi trade from which Windsor's modern motorcar taxis evolved. We simply never changed from horse to motor.
Today, our coachmen, horses and carriages continue to operate as a professional licensed service, supported by the licences, permissions, insurance, horse and carriage transport and operational planning required to work safely within modern Windsor and the Estate.
Our horses and carriages are brought into Windsor for each operating day, together with the professional team and support required around them.
It is an old trade, carefully continued in a modern place.
Our Stories
Much of what we share cannot be found in a guidebook.
It comes from generations spent working with horses and carriages across Windsor: the people, places, traditions and small details learned along the way.
These are stories passed from one coachman and family to the next, and today, we have the privilege of sharing them with you.
Our Windsor
Operating a Victorian carriage trade in modern Windsor takes rather more than knowing the way.
The Royal town and working Estate are constantly changing. Roads close, ceremonies take place, Estate life continues and timings move. Behind each visit is a local team who understand how Windsor works and can quietly adapt around it.
We introduce you to a part of Windsor you might otherwise never discover. You come to visit Windsor. We want you to leave having felt it.
Our Horses
Our horses are working horses, not entertainment, and the way we plan each visit begins with them.
Estate visits will often begin and end in different places, allowing a working day to feel much like an ordinary exercise day: moving forward through the landscape rather than repeatedly travelling the same route.
Variety helps keep their work interesting, their minds engaged and their natural curiosity alive.
It is a simple principle: we shape the work around the horse, rather than the horse around the work.
Understanding Windsor Carriages
Only need the carriage chapter?
Our carriages can become one remarkable part of a wider visit, wedding, celebration, photographic commission or event. Bringing horses and historic carriages into a busy working town and Royal Estate requires careful planning. We work closely with established travel advisors, concierge teams and event organisers to incorporate the carriage safely and seamlessly within their wider arrangements.
From meeting your horse and carriage team to travelling into the wider Estate, discover what your private time with Windsor Carriages might actually feel like.
When the motorcar arrived, Windsor's taxis changed.
We didn't.
Discover how a horse-drawn Hackney Carriage trade found a place in modern Windsor without losing the traditions at its heart.
Perhaps the question we are asked most often.
The answer lies in how Windsor has changed, how our trade operates today and why the welfare of the horses at its heart has shaped the way we choose to work.
Bringing Horses & Carriages To Britain?
For decades, we have welcomed and supported visiting horses, drivers and carriage owners coming to Windsor for Royal Ascot, Royal Windsor Horse Show and private Estate visits.
Our local knowledge extends far beyond the carriage seat. From international horse travel and stabling to permissions, access, routes, staffing and carriage arrangements, we understand the practicalities behind bringing a turnout to Windsor.
Whether arriving with your own horses and carriage or requiring us to provide them, we can help make the arrangements on the ground.
TREADGOLD BROCK
WINDSOR VISIT EVENTS HOSPITALITY
Windsor Carriages preserves and operates the historic carriage trade. For guests wishing to create a wider Windsor visit or event around it, Treadgold Brock brings together everything beyond the carriage, from private guides and Windsor Castle visits to chauffeurs, dining, venues and complete guest programmes.
One Windsor. Two very different roles.
Licensed Since 1849.
Still In Trade
Horse’s Welfare Above All
One Private Booking per Operating Day
Giving Back To Windsor
Trade - Heritage - Tradition - Service
