The Guildford number is 01483 301 000. Clocktower Cars runs a licensed private hire office at Station Approach, London Road, Guildford, GU1 4DQ, covering the town and the villages around it 24 hours a day. Book online or get a fixed quote first.
Whether you want a taxi in Guildford for an early meeting, minicabs in Guildford for a group heading to Heathrow, cabs in Guildford after a night on the High Street, or a wheelchair taxi in Guildford for a hospital appointment, it is the same office and the same fleet.
Guildford is Surrey’s county town, about 27 miles south-west of London on the A3, with the GU1 to GU4 postcodes. It is also the one place we cover where the usual airport arithmetic turns upside down — which is where this page starts.
Everywhere else in our patch, Gatwick is the closer airport and the car is the obvious choice. Guildford is different on both counts, and it is worth being straight about it.
| From Guildford | Distance | Typical drive | Direct train? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Heathrow | 23.8 miles | ~31 min | No |
| Gatwick | 33.7 miles | ~37 min | Yes — 2 per hour |
Heathrow is the nearer airport from Guildford, at roughly 24 miles and half an hour up the A3. There is no direct train, so by rail it means Waterloo and back out, or a coach. For an early flight, luggage, or more than one person, the car is not a close call. We cover it in detail on our Guildford to Heathrow page.
Guildford has something most of Surrey does not: a direct train to Gatwick, twice an hour off-peak, on the line through Redhill. If you are travelling alone, mid-morning, with one bag, that train is a perfectly good answer and we would rather say so than pretend otherwise.
Luton, Stansted, London City and the cruise ports at Southampton, Dover and Tilbury are all covered too — see all airport transfers, Heathrow and Gatwick.
Guildford has two stations, and confusing them costs people trains.
| Guildford | London Road (Guildford) | |
|---|---|---|
| Operators | South Western Railway and Great Western Railway | South Western Railway |
| Where | Town centre, west of the High Street | East of the centre, near Merrow and Burpham |
| London Waterloo | Yes — via Woking, Cobham or Epsom | Yes — 3 tph via Cobham or Epsom |
| Also serves | Portsmouth Harbour, Reading, Redhill, Gatwick Airport | Guildford only in the other direction |
| Size | 6.37 million passengers a year | Two platforms, limited facilities |
Portsmouth, Reading, Redhill or Gatwick? It has to be Guildford main station. Just Waterloo, and you live on the east side? London Road is closer and often quicker door to door. Our office is on Station Approach at London Road, so we are on that platform’s doorstep — and a few minutes from the main station.
Station work is most of what we do here: the commuter drop before a Waterloo train, the collection on a wet evening, and the run back from the main station when a late service terminates short. Tell us which station rather than assuming, or tell us where you are heading and we will pick the right one.
The cobbled High Street with its granite setts and the Guildhall clock, the castle grounds, G Live and the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre by the river. Charlotteville, just south-east, was one of the first planned suburbs in Britain. Narrow streets and pedestrianised sections mean the pickup point matters more here than almost anywhere — we will agree one when you book rather than leave a driver circling.
Out along the A246 and the London Road, closest to our own office and to London Road station. Well served, and the part of Guildford where a short station run saves the most time.
North and west of the centre. Park Barn is where the Royal Surrey County Hospital sits, so a good share of our daytime work runs through here.
West towards the A3, with the University of Surrey and Guildford Cathedral on Stag Hill above them. Beyond the town we also cover East Horsley, West Horsley, West Clandon, Ripley, Albury, Wotton, Farnham and Godalming.
The University of Surrey has occupied Stag Hill since 1966, with the Manor Park site and Surrey Sports Park nearby. Two patterns dominate: the start and end of term, when a whole flat moves at once and one car will not do it, and the airport run at the end of a semester, often at an unsociable hour with a term’s worth of luggage.
For both, book ahead and tell us the number of bags as well as the number of people. A group of four students with four large cases and a bike is not a saloon job, and finding that out at the door helps nobody.
The Royal Surrey at Park Barn holds the nearest accident and emergency department to the town centre, along with its outpatient and oncology services. It is a short run from anywhere in GU1 to GU4.
A taxi to an appointment means being dropped at the right entrance rather than circling a hospital car park while the clock runs down, and no charge ticking over while you are inside. For collections after a procedure, ring when the patient is genuinely ready to leave rather than booking a time and hoping — discharges rarely happen when predicted. We also run to St Peter’s at Chertsey, Frimley Park and the Epsom hospitals.
Guildford draws pupils from a wide catchment across the Surrey villages, and a lot of those journeys are too long to walk and too awkward for a bus timetable. A standing booking is set up once and then runs to the school calendar — same pickup, same times, term-time only, with a named regular driver wherever the rota allows.
Drivers carrying children are licensed and DBS-checked. Child seats and boosters are provided when requested at the time of booking — give us the child’s age and we bring the right one. Where a child travels alone, we agree in advance exactly who hands over and who receives at each end.
Some families qualify for council-funded home-to-school transport: broadly, a child under eight living more than two miles from school, a child of eight or over more than three miles away, a child with SEND or mobility needs, or one with no safe walking route. That is arranged through Surrey County Council rather than through us, and worth checking before paying privately. More on travelling with children.
We run wheelchair-accessible vehicles, and they need requesting when you book rather than hoping on the day — there are fewer of them than saloons, so notice genuinely helps.
Guildford makes this more than a vehicle question. The town centre is built on a hill, the High Street is laid with granite setts, and several approaches are stepped — so being dropped at the right end of a street rather than the nearest one is the difference between a manageable trip and an impossible one. Tell us once what would help and it stays on the booking. See accessible travel with Clocktower Cars.
We run pet-friendly journeys — the vet trip, the cattery drop, the move, the airport run with a dog in the back. Say what animal is travelling when you book, roughly what size, and whether it will be in a carrier or crate, and we will send a suitable driver and vehicle. Carriers make everything easier, and for a nervous animal the boot is usually kinder than the back seat.
Guildford carries a lot of professional and technology employment for a town its size, and the A3 makes it a natural base for people whose work is spread between London, Woking, Farnborough and the south coast. That is account territory rather than pay-as-you-go.
Accounts open through our account application, and there is more on executive and corporate travel. Ordinary bookings take card, cash or account.
G Live and the Yvonne Arnaud both empty at once, and a Guildford theatre crowd hits the street at the same minute as everyone leaving the pubs on the High Street. That is the hour when an unbooked car is hardest to find, and the hour we are busiest.
Two things help. Book ahead if you know roughly when the curtain comes down or when you are leaving, because Friday and Saturday nights are the busiest of our week. And check the car when it arrives: you booked a private hire vehicle, so the driver should already know your name and your destination. A car that pulls up unbooked and offers a lift is not us.
Guildford has both kinds of vehicle on its streets, and the distinction is worth knowing. A hackney carriage may be hailed in the street or taken from a rank. A private hire vehicle may only be booked in advance through a licensed operator.
We are the second kind. Every journey is booked ahead, which is why you will not flag us down on North Street — and also why you know which car is coming, roughly what it will cost, and that the booking exists on record before anyone sets off. Drivers are licensed and DBS-checked; vehicles are licensed and insured for private hire.
Call 01483 301 000, any hour. Quickest for anything urgent or complicated.
Book online any time, or request a fixed quote first. Every branch and number is on our find us page.
01483 301 000, answered 24 hours a day. Our Guildford office is at Station Approach, London Road, GU1 4DQ. You can also book online or request a fixed quote first.
Heathrow, and it is not close. Heathrow is about 24 miles and 31 minutes up the A3; Gatwick is about 34 miles and 37 minutes. Guildford is unusual in this — across most of Surrey the pattern is the other way round.
Guildford has a direct train to Gatwick twice an hour off-peak, so for one person travelling mid-morning with a single bag the train is a good option and we would say so. A car makes more sense for early or late flights when the train is not running, for two or more people, for real luggage, when you are not starting near the station, and for arrivals, because we track the flight and a timetable does not.
Both. Guildford main station is in the town centre and serves London Waterloo, Portsmouth Harbour, Reading, Redhill and Gatwick Airport. London Road (Guildford) is east of the centre near Merrow and Burpham, with three trains an hour to Waterloo via Cobham or Epsom. Our office is on Station Approach at London Road.
Yes, every day, including early-hours airport departures and late-night collections. Friday and Saturday nights are the busiest period, so book ahead where you can.
Yes. Wheelchair-accessible vehicles are available and should be requested at the time of booking, as there are fewer of them than standard cars. Guildford’s hill, the granite setts on the High Street and the stepped approaches mean the drop-off point matters as much as the vehicle, so tell us where you are actually going and we will pick the right end of the street.
Yes, we run pet-friendly journeys. Mention the animal when you book, with its size and whether it travels in a carrier or crate, so we can send a suitable vehicle.
In everyday speech people use all three for the same thing, and we answer to all of them. In licensing terms a hackney carriage can be hailed in the street or taken from a rank, while a private hire vehicle — what most people mean by a minicab — must be booked in advance through a licensed operator. Clocktower Cars is a private hire operator, so whether you search for taxis in Guildford, minicabs in Guildford or cabs in Guildford, the answer is the same: book ahead and the car is yours.
The town centre, Charlotteville, Merrow, Burpham, Stoughton, Bellfields, Slyfield, Park Barn, Onslow Village, Westborough and Stag Hill, plus East and West Horsley, West Clandon, Ripley, Albury, Wotton, Farnham and Godalming. Guildford covers the GU1 to GU4 postcodes.
Call 01483 301 000, book online, or get a fixed quote before you travel. Heathrow and Gatwick transfers, both Guildford stations, hospital appointments, school runs, university journeys, accessible vehicles, pets and corporate accounts — 24 hours a day from our office at Station Approach, London Road, GU1 4DQ.
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