The home of the Cookham Fly.

The home of the Cookham Fly.

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The entrance to this building has quite a history. At the opening of the Great Western Railway between Maidenhead, High Wycombe and London in the mid 1850’s, gave the opportunity for the more affluent of the city businessmen to move out into Cookham and Cookham Dean and commute daily to the city. Rather than go to the expense of having coach and horses, there became a need for a transport hire service. In the building above was the start of the Cookham Fly Service. The Fly, was the country version of the city Hansom Cab. This service existed until the arrival of the motor car and the switch to the Taxi Cab. This service remained available until the middle 1950’s, when new small and economical cars started to become available to those living in Cookham. Now it is a small garage. During the war those businessmen that I mentioned, could be seen walking to and from the station every weekday morning and evening. So regular were they, that one could set your clock by them.