Byfleet Area Guide
Byfleet is a small but accessible village around 1.5 miles east of West Byfleet from which it is separated by the M25 motorway and the Wey Navigation.
The village is of medieval origin with its winding main street, High Road at the centre of it. It has many original public houses as well as local shops, eateries and a church. Architecturally there are several timber-framed houses, as well as other 16th and 17th century houses with listed status.
The former Brooklands motor racing circuit is located just to the north and Byfleet expanded considerably after it opened in 1907 and when major aircraft factories opened there during World War I. A large housing estate for Vickers aircraft workers was built between Chertsey Road and Oyster Lane during World War I and these houses still exist today.
In 1895, Walter George Tarrant aged just 20 set up his own building company, W G Tarrant Ltd, in the village. The Tarrant Tabor bomber, the largest aeroplane built in Britain during World War I, was constructed in Byfleet by W G Tarrant Ltd but crashed fatally at Farnborough in 1919 on its first attempted take-off. The company also constructed some of the first buildings at Brooklands.
During the early 1900s WJ Tarrant built extensively in adjoining Pyrford, West Byfleet, Woking as well as the exclusive St George’s Hill and Wentworth private housing estates making the area popular with the rich and famous.
After World War 2, the village became a greater centre for automotive-related businesses, garages, showrooms and workshops and is this is still the case today.
Byfleet also boast a rare surviving example of a Victorian village fire station on High Road which was built in 1885. It served the village until closed in 1963 but is still owned by Surrey County Council and is a Grade 2 Listed building and has been the subject of much restoration work for potential heritage-related community use.
Byfleet today is a family friendly area with lots of green spaces, amenities and good schools. It is served by Byfleet & New Haw railway station which is on the South Western main line.