LIST OF POSTCODE AREAS IN THE UNITED KINGDOM

The UK postal system runs on a system of alphanumeric codes, or postcodes. Each postcode begins with a prefix consisting of one or two letters. In the past the 'postcode area' denoted the location of the main sorting office through which the post for that area was filtered before being distributed to delivery offices and then on to individual addresses. Royal Mail have consolidated some of the old sorting offices into single 'mail centres' in a bid to be more efficient. An example is the Jubilee Mail Centre in Hounslow which deals with mail for the KT, TW and GU postcode areas.
The London postal district is divided into sectors which are named after points on the compass.
Note that the postal districts and post towns do not follow district or county boundaries. The London postal districts cover a smaller area than the Greater London Authority (40%) and many places in Outer London are covered by parts of twelve adjoining postcode areas (EN, IG, RM, DA, BR, TN, CR, SM, KT, TW, HA and UB), some of which are entirely comprised in Greater London.
Postal counties are no longer required by Royal Mail and where a county is given it will be ignored as long as the post town and postcode are supplied.
:''See also List of postal districts in the United Kingdom for a list of all 2,900 districts.''

Contents
United Kingdom postcode areas
Special codes
Crown dependencies
Overseas territories
Defunct postcode areas
Fictional postcodes
See also
References
External links

United Kingdom postcode areas


This is a list of UK postcode areas and their names. See List of post towns in the United Kingdom for the areas they cover.
Postcode AreaPostcode Area name [1]Explanation
AB Aberdeen
AL St Albans
B Birmingham
BA Bath
BB Blackburn
BD Bradford
BH Bournemouth
BL Bolton
BN Brighton
BR Bromley
BS Bristol
BT Belfast All of Northern Ireland
CA Carlisle
CB Cambridge
CF Cardiff
CH Chester
CM Chelmsford
CO Colchester
CR Croydon
CT Canterbury
CV Coventry
CW Crewe
DA Dartford
DD Dundee
DE Derby
DG Dumfries and Galloway
DH Durham
DL Darlington
DN Doncaster
DT Dorchester
DY Dudley
E London E
EC London EC East City of London
EH Edinburgh
EN Enfield
EX Exeter
FK Falkirk
FY Blackpool
G Glasgow
GL Gloucester
GU Guildford
HA Harrow
HD Huddersfield
HG Harrogate
HP Hemel Hempstead
HR Hereford
HS Outer Hebrides
HU Hull
HX Halifax
IG Ilford
IP Ipswich
IV Inverness
KA Kilmarnock
KT Kingston upon Thames
KW Kirkwall
KY Kirkcaldy
L Liverpool
LA Lancaster
LD Llandrindod Wells
LE Leicester
LL Llandudno
LN Lincoln
LS Leeds
LU Luton
M Manchester
ME Rochester Medway
MK Milton Keynes
ML Motherwell
N London N
NE Newcastle upon Tyne Covers all of Northumberland, North Tyneside, South Tyneside and Gateshead
NG Nottingham
NN Northampton
NP Newport
NR Norwich
NW London NW
OL Oldham
OX Oxford
PA Paisley
PE Peterborough
PH Perth
PL Plymouth
PO Portsmouth
PR Preston
RG Reading
RH Redhill
RM Romford
S Sheffield
SA Swansea Covers all of south West Wales
SE London SE
SG Stevenage
SK Stockport
SL Slough
SM Sutton Sutton and Merton
SN Swindon
SO Southampton
SP Salisbury
SR Sunderland
SS Southend on Sea
ST Stoke-on-Trent
SW London SW
SY Shrewsbury Also covers Mid Wales
TA Taunton
TD Galashiels
TF Telford
TN Tonbridge
TQ Torquay
TR Truro
TS Cleveland
TW Twickenham
UB Southall Uxbridge
W London W
WA Warrington
WC London WC West City of London
WD Watford
WF Wakefield
WN Wigan
WR Worcester
WS Walsall
WV Wolverhampton
YO York
ZE Lerwick Code is formed from Zetland

Special codes


There are at least two exceptions to this format:

★ the postcode for the formerly Post Office-owned Girobank is GIR 0AA.

★ the postcode for correctly addressed letters to Father Christmas is SAN TA1[2]

Crown dependencies


The Crown dependencies did not introduce postcodes until the early 1990s.

GY - Guernsey

JE - Jersey

IM - Isle of Man

Overseas territories


Some of the British overseas territories have postcodes, valid for all local addresses. They were introduced between 2003 and 2005 to avoid the misdirection of mail to other destinations, and to help residents of those territories make online purchases from websites that required a postcode in order to validate the address.

★ ASCN 1ZZ - Ascension Island

★ BBND 1ZZ - British Indian Ocean Territory

★ BIQQ 1ZZ - British Antarctic Territory

★ FIQQ 1ZZ - Falkland Islands

★ PCRN 1ZZ - Pitcairn Islands

★ SIQQ 1ZZ - South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands

★ STHL 1ZZ - Saint Helena

★ TDCU 1ZZ - Tristan da Cunha

Defunct postcode areas


In the mid 19th Century the beginnings of the post code system was established. London was split into 10 areas, such as SW and WC which still form the current postcode areas. In the early 20th Century (1917 in London) these were again split into districts such as SW16 which form the present postcode. At the same time major cities were split into Postal Districts. e.g. Liverpool 6, which later became L6.
However several of these postcode areas did not last the test of time:

★ London


★ 'NE' was abolished in the 19th Century by merging E area with some parts removed from the London area altogether, several streets in East London still have NE suffixes on the street names. The NE postcode area was later recycled to Newcastle upon Tyne.


★ 'S' was abolished in the 19th Century by merging into the SE and SW postcode areas, the S postcode area later re-emerged in Sheffield.

★ Glasgow


★ Glasgow was unique amongst UK cities as it had compass postal districts similar to London due to its status as the Second City of the British Empire, i.e. C, W, NW, N, E, S, SW, SE. When postcodes were introduced these were mapped into the new 'G' postcode area thusly: C1 became G1, W1 became G11, N1 became G21, E1 became G31, S1 became G41, SW1 became G51, and so on. As NW and SE had never been subdivided they become G20 and G50 respectively.

★ Dublin


★ Dublin was split into Dublin postal districts by the (UK) Post Office in 1917 at the same time as other major cities in the UK like Liverpool and Manchester. After the creation of the Irish Free State (later the Republic of Ireland) the Irish government did not adopt postcodes, however the Dublin postal districts remain to this day and the correct form of address is Dublin 7 etc. The post code 'D' has not been re-used within the UK. The Irish government plans to introduce postcodes by 1 January 2008. It is not known whether numeric or alphanumeric postcodes will be used, however the need to integrate with the existing Dublin postal districts may necessitate alphanumeric postcodes, as was the case when the UK had to integrate London and other major city postal districts into postcodes in the 1960s.

Fictional postcodes



★ AM - Ambridge, Borsetshire, (''The Archers'')

★ B87 - Leatherbridge

E20 - Walford, East London (''EastEnders'')

★ REDW 1ZZ - the city-sized interplanetary vessel ''Red Dwarf'' (from TV show ''Red Dwarf'')

★ WC Fields - in a Monty Python skit.

See also



List of postcode districts in the United Kingdom

List of post towns in the United Kingdom

Postal counties of the United Kingdom

UK telephone area codes (STD codes)

UK topics

References


1. Royal Mail - ''Address Management Guide'' (2004)
2. [1], [2], [3], [4]

External links



Postal Geography page from the Office for National Statistics (ONS)

Map of UK postcode areas

Map of postal districts by region - can drill-down into district maps ''(Note: Does not work in Firefox browser.)''

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