The list of postcode areas in the United Kingdom is a tabulation of the postcode areas used by Royal Mail for the purposes of directing mail within the United Kingdom. The postcode area is the largest geographical unit used and forms the initial characters of the alphanumeric UK postcode.[1] There are currently 121 geographic postcode areas in use in the UK and a further three often combined with these covering the Crown Dependencies of Guernsey, Jersey and Isle of Man.
Each postcode area is further divided into post towns and postcode districts.[1] There are on average 20 postcode districts to a postcode area.[1] The London post town is instead divided into several postcode areas.[2]
ScopeEdit
The single or pair of letters chosen for postcode areas are generally intended as a mnemonic for the places served.[1] Postcode areas, post towns and postcode districts do not follow political boundaries and usually serve much larger areas than the place names with which they are associated. For example, within the PA postcode area the PA1 and PA78 postcode districts are 140 miles (225 km) apart; and the eight postcode areas of the London post town cover only 40% of Greater London.[2] The remainder of its area is covered by sections of twelve adjoining postcode areas: EN, IG, RM, DA, BR, TN, CR, SM, KT, TW, HA and UB.[2]
United Kingdom postcode areasEdit
Map of postcode areas in the United Kingdom and Crown dependencies, with links to each postcode area
The Crown dependencies (which are not part of the United Kingdom) did not introduce postcodes until later, but use a similar coding scheme. They are separate postal authorities.[1]
Glasgow, like London, was divided into compass districts: C, W, NW, N, E, SE, S, SW. When postcodes were introduced, these were mapped into the new G postcode: 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 became G20 and G40 respectively.
Norwich and CroydonEdit
Norwich and Croydon were used for a postcode experiment in the late 1960s, which was replaced by the current system. The format was of the form NOR or CRO followed by two numbers and a letter, e.g. NOR 07A. They were later changed to CR0 (digit '0') and NR1.
Dublin, IrelandEdit
When Ireland was a part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland a postal district system was introduced in 1917 by the UK government. The letter D was assigned to Dublin. Upon the establishment of the Irish Free State and later, the Republic of Ireland, the Irish government retained the designation and today it forms part of the Eircode system. Since Irish independence, D has never been reassigned as a postcode area in the UK. Modern postcodes throughout the Republic of Ireland take a slightly different form from UK postcodes and are specific to individual addresses.
Some postcode areas do not correspond to geographical areas. A number of non-geographic postcode sectors are also contained within geographic postcode areas.
The BF postcode area was introduced in 2012 to provide optional postcodes for British Forces Post Office addresses, for consistency with the layout of other UK addresses. It uses the national non-geographic post town "BFPO" and, as of 2012, the postcode district "BF1".
BXEdit
The non-geographic postcode area BX has been introduced for addresses which do not include a locality: this allows large organisations long-term flexibility as to where they receive their mail. This postcode area is used by Lloyds Banking Group (BX1 1LT), HSBC (BX8 0HB) and parts of the HM Revenue and Customs like VAT Central Unit (BX5 5AT) and Pay as You Earn (BX9 1AS). Lloyds Bank also use BX4. After splitting from Lloyds, TSB Bank uses BX4 7SB, the latter part of which, when written, looks similar to "TSB".
XX10 1DD (Scottish Distribution Centre)[7] XX40 2PP (National Distribution Centre) XX10 1ZZ (Yorkshire Distribution Centre) XX50 1DD (Scottish Distribution Centre) XX50 9SS (Scottish Distribution Centre) XX30 1FF (South West Distribution Centre) XX60 1XX (Princess Royal Distribution Centre)
Certain British Overseas Territories introduced single postal codes for their territory or major sub-sections of it. These are not UK postcodes, even though many are formatted in a similar fashion:
^Manger, Warren (26 August 2014). "40 facts about the postcode to mark 40th anniversary as vital part of daily life". mirror.co.uk. mirror.co.uk. from the original on 16 March 2018. Retrieved 16 March 2018.
^"History of the UK Postcode - Modern Origin". postcodearea.co.uk. postcodearea.co.uk. from the original on 18 October 2017. Retrieved 16 March 2018.
^"Postcodes in the UK - Jonathan Rawle's Website". jonathan.rawle.org. from the original on 29 April 2018. Retrieved 29 April 2018.
^Amazon Help [@AmazonHelp] (24 October 2016). "@MarkWickson This postcode is a non-geographic code used by us for returns carried by Royal Mail to our returns center Dunfermline, SCT. ^SW" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
^. The Anguillian. 12 October 2007. Archived from the original on 14 May 2010.
^"First postcode for remote UK isle". BBC News. 7 August 2005. from the original on 24 December 2008.
^"Rammell welcomes new Postcode for the Falkland Islands". Merco Press. 19 May 2003.
^Turks and Caicos Islands 10 April 2008 at the Wayback Machine. Bureau International UPU.
Strowger net: postcodes of the UK 24 July 2010 at the Wayback Machine
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The list of postcode areas in the United Kingdom is a tabulation of the postcode areas used by Royal Mail for the purposes of directing mail within the United Kingdom The postcode area is the largest geographical unit used and forms the initial characters of the alphanumeric UK postcode 1 There are currently 121 geographic postcode areas in use in the UK and a further three often combined with these covering the Crown Dependencies of Guernsey Jersey and Isle of Man Contents 1 Subdivision 2 Scope 3 United Kingdom postcode areas 4 Crown dependencies 5 Defunct postcode areas 5 1 London NE and S 5 2 Glasgow 5 3 Norwich and Croydon 5 4 Dublin Ireland 6 Non geographic postcodes 6 1 GIR 6 2 BF 6 3 BX 6 4 XM 6 5 XX 7 Overseas territories 8 See also 9 Notes 10 References 11 External linksSubdivision EditEach postcode area is further divided into post towns and postcode districts 1 There are on average 20 postcode districts to a postcode area 1 The London post town is instead divided into several postcode areas 2 Scope EditThe single or pair of letters chosen for postcode areas are generally intended as a mnemonic for the places served 1 Postcode areas post towns and postcode districts do not follow political boundaries and usually serve much larger areas than the place names with which they are associated For example within the PA postcode area the PA1 and PA78 postcode districts are 140 miles 225 km apart and the eight postcode areas of the London post town cover only 40 of Greater London 2 The remainder of its area is covered by sections of twelve adjoining postcode areas EN IG RM DA BR TN CR SM KT TW HA and UB 2 United Kingdom postcode areas Edit Map of postcode areas in the United Kingdom and Crown dependencies with links to each postcode areaPostcode area Postcode area name 1 3 Code formation Number of postcode districts within areaAB Aberdeen 33 Highest number 56 AL St Albans 10B Birmingham 79 Highest number 98 BA Bath 19 Highest number 22 BB Blackburn 13 Highest number 18 BD Bradford 27 Highest number 99 BH Bournemouth 26 Highest number 31 BL Bolton 10 Highest number 9 BN Brighton 30 Highest number 45 BR Bromley 8BS Bristol 37 Highest number 49 BT Belfast 81 Highest number 94 CA Carlisle 28CB Cambridge 16 Highest number 25 CF Cardiff 35 Highest number 83 CH Chester 37 Highest number 66 CM Chelmsford 25 Highest number 77 CO Colchester 16CR Croydon 8CT Canterbury 21CV Coventry 24 Highest number 47 CW Crewe 12DA Dartford 18DD Dundee 11DE Derby 23 Highest number 75 DG Dumfries 1 Dumfries and Galloway 15 Highest number 16 DH Durham 9DL Darlington 17DN Doncaster 32 Highest number 41 DT Dorchester 11DY Dudley 14E East London 20 Includes E1W EC East Central London 23 Layout for EC is different e g EC2R 8AH highest number 4 4Y EH Edinburgh 54 Highest number 55 EN Enfield 11EX Exeter 33 Highest number 39 FK Falkirk 21FY Blackpool 1 The Fylde 8G Glasgow 52 Highest number 84 GL Gloucester 27 Highest number 56 GU Guildford 38 Highest number 52 HA Harrow 10 Highest number 9 HD Huddersfield 9HG Harrogate 5HP Hemel Hempstead 24 Highest number 27 HR Hereford 9HS Hebrides 9HU Hull 20HX Halifax 7IG Ilford Possibly Ilford and Barking 11IP Ipswich 33IV Inverness 52 Highest number 63 KA Kilmarnock Possibly Kilmarnock and Ayr or Kilmarnock 30KT Kingston upon Thames 24KW Kirkwall 16 Highest number 17 KY Kirkcaldy 16L Liverpool 40LA Lancaster 23LD Llandrindod Wells 1 8LE Leicester 21 Highest number 67 LL Llandudno 67 Highest number 78 LN Lincoln 13LS Leeds 29LU Luton 7M Manchester 43 Highest number 90 ME Medway 20MK Milton Keynes 26 Highest number 46 ML Motherwell 12N North London 23 Includes N1C Highest number 22 NE Newcastle upon Tyne 4 5 61 Highest number 71 NG Nottingham 29 Highest number 34 NN Northampton 19 Highest number 29 NP Newport 18 Highest number 44 NR Norwich 35NW North West London 11OL Oldham 16OX Oxford 27 Highest number 49 PA Paisley 67 Highest number 80 PE Peterborough 38PH Perth 43 Highest number 50 PL Plymouth 35PO Portsmouth 34 Highest number 41 PR Preston 11 Highest number 26 RG Reading 30 Highest number 45 RH Redhill 20RM Romford 20S Sheffield 45 Highest number 81 SA Swansea 51 Highest number 73 SE South East London 28SG Stevenage 19SK Stockport 19SL Slough 10 Highest number 9 SM Sutton 1 Possibly Sutton and Morden the two post towns that are within the SM area 6 7SN Swindon 18 Highest number 26 SO Southampton 23 Highest number 53 SP Salisbury Salisbury Plain 11SR Sunderland SR1 6 Sunderland SR7 SeahamSR8 Peterlee Some of South Tyneside is SR6 8SS Southend on Sea 17ST Stoke on Trent 21SW South West London 27 SW1 is represented by SW1A E H P V W X amp Y Highest number 20 SY Shrewsbury 25TA Taunton 24TD Galashiels Tweeddale 15TF Telford 13TN Tunbridge Wells 1 40TQ Torquay 14TR Truro 27TS Teesside 29TW Twickenham 20UB Southall 1 Uxbridge 11W West London 26 W1 is split into W1A through W1D F to H J K S through U and W highest number 14 WA Warrington 16WC West Central London 14 WC1 is split into eight WC2 is split into six highest number 2 2R WD Watford 11 Highest number 25 WF Wakefield 17WN Wigan 8WR Worcester 15WS Walsall 15WV Wolverhampton 16YO York 29 Highest number 47 ZE Lerwick 1 Zetland 3Crown dependencies EditThe Crown dependencies which are not part of the United Kingdom did not introduce postcodes until later but use a similar coding scheme They are separate postal authorities 1 Postcode area Postcode area nameGY GuernseyJE JerseyIM Isle of ManDefunct postcode areas EditLondon NE and S Edit Further information London postal district Abolition of NE and S divisions and retraction of E division Glasgow Edit Glasgow like London was divided into compass districts C W NW N E SE S SW When postcodes were introduced these were mapped into the new G postcode 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 became G20 and G40 respectively Norwich and Croydon Edit Norwich and Croydon were used for a postcode experiment in the late 1960s which was replaced by the current system The format was of the form NOR or CRO followed by two numbers and a letter e g NOR 07A They were later changed to CR0 digit 0 and NR1 Dublin Ireland Edit When Ireland was a part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland a postal district system was introduced in 1917 by the UK government The letter D was assigned to Dublin Upon the establishment of the Irish Free State and later the Republic of Ireland the Irish government retained the designation and today it forms part of the Eircode system Since Irish independence D has never been reassigned as a postcode area in the UK Modern postcodes throughout the Republic of Ireland take a slightly different form from UK postcodes and are specific to individual addresses Non geographic postcodes EditFurther information Postcodes in the United Kingdom Non geographic codes Some postcode areas do not correspond to geographical areas A number of non geographic postcode sectors are also contained within geographic postcode areas GIR Edit GIR 0AA is a postcode created for Girobank in Bootle It remained in use by its successors when Girobank was taken over by Alliance amp Leicester and subsequently by Santander UK BF Edit The BF postcode area was introduced in 2012 to provide optional postcodes for British Forces Post Office addresses for consistency with the layout of other UK addresses It uses the national non geographic post town BFPO and as of 2012 the postcode district BF1 BX Edit The non geographic postcode area BX has been introduced for addresses which do not include a locality this allows large organisations long term flexibility as to where they receive their mail This postcode area is used by Lloyds Banking Group BX1 1LT HSBC BX8 0HB and parts of the HM Revenue and Customs like VAT Central Unit BX5 5AT and Pay as You Earn BX9 1AS Lloyds Bank also use BX4 After splitting from Lloyds TSB Bank uses BX4 7SB the latter part of which when written looks similar to TSB XM Edit XM4 5HQ is a postcode created for Father Christmas XX Edit The non geographic postcode area XX is used by online retailers for returns by Royal Mail and for COVID 19 test samples Retailer XX PostcodesAdidas XX40 4AAAmazon XX10 1DD Scottish Distribution Centre 7 XX40 2PP National Distribution Centre XX10 1ZZ Yorkshire Distribution Centre XX50 1DD Scottish Distribution Centre XX50 9SS Scottish Distribution Centre XX30 1FF South West Distribution Centre XX60 1XX Princess Royal Distribution Centre ASOS XX10 1AABoohoo com XX10 1BBBT Group XX10 1BTJohn Lewis XX10 1EE XX40 1EEMarks amp Spencer XX10 1SSVery XX20 1BDmusicMagpie XX10 1FFXX20 1BFXX20 1FFHP Cycleon Retail Returns XX40 1EHXX40 2HH Toner Cartridge Recycling Zara XX40 1EJMango XX40 1ENMonsoon Accessorize XX40 1EPBoden XX40 1EGH amp M XX40 1HNOasis XX40 1YYShein XX40 3SSSky XX40 4UUBiocentre COVID 19 testing XX40 4FLAstraZeneca COVID 19 testing XX40 8AZBiocentre COVID 19 testing Scotland XX50 5FLOverseas territories EditCertain British Overseas Territories introduced single postal codes for their territory or major sub sections of it These are not UK postcodes even though many are formatted in a similar fashion Territory Postcode Anguilla AI 2640 8 Saint Helena Ascension and Tristan da Cunha Ascension Island Saint Helena Tristan da Cunha 9 ASCN 1ZZ STHL 1ZZ TDCU 1ZZ British Indian Ocean Territory BBND 1ZZ British Antarctic Territory BIQQ 1ZZ Falkland Islands FIQQ 1ZZ 10 Gibraltar GX11 1AA Pitcairn Islands PCRN 1ZZ South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands SIQQ 1ZZ Turks and Caicos Islands TKCA 1ZZ 11 Other overseas territories have introduced their own more extensive postcode systems Overseas Territory Further information Bermuda Postal codes in Bermuda Cayman Islands Postal codes in the Cayman Islands British Virgin Islands Postal codes in the British Virgin Islands Montserrat Postal codes in MontserratCivilian residential and business addresses in Akrotiri and Dhekelia are served by Cyprus Postal Services and use Cypriot postal codes Mail to Overseas Territories is treated as international if posted in the UK See also EditList of postcode areas in the United Kingdom by population List of postcode districts in the United Kingdom Postcodes in the United Kingdom UK Postcode Regions by Population List of Eircode routing areas in IrelandNotes EditReferences Edit a b c d e f g h i j k l m Address Management Guide 5th ed Royal Mail Group plc March 2007 Archived from the original on 8 November 2012 Retrieved 22 October 2012 a b c HMSO The Inner London Letter Post 1980 Office for National Statistics 1999 The Official Yearbook of the United Kingdom PDF 2000 ed London The Stationery Office UK Postal Areas map opposite p 5 ISBN 0 11 621098 2 Archived PDF from the original on 30 October 2012 Retrieved 22 October 2012 Manger Warren 26 August 2014 40 facts about the postcode to mark 40th anniversary as vital part of daily life mirror co uk mirror co uk Archived from the original on 16 March 2018 Retrieved 16 March 2018 History of the UK Postcode Modern Origin postcodearea co uk postcodearea co uk Archived from the original on 18 October 2017 Retrieved 16 March 2018 Postcodes in the UK Jonathan Rawle s Website jonathan rawle org Archived from the original on 29 April 2018 Retrieved 29 April 2018 Amazon Help AmazonHelp 24 October 2016 MarkWickson This postcode is a non geographic code used by us for returns carried by Royal Mail to our returns center Dunfermline SCT SW Tweet via Twitter Anguilla Has a Postal Code AI 2640 The Anguillian 12 October 2007 Archived from the original on 14 May 2010 First postcode for remote UK isle BBC News 7 August 2005 Archived from the original on 24 December 2008 Rammell welcomes new Postcode for the Falkland Islands Merco Press 19 May 2003 Turks and Caicos Islands Archived 10 April 2008 at the Wayback Machine Bureau International UPU External links EditKML file edit help Template Attached KML List of postcode areas in the United KingdomKML is from Wikidata Office for National Statistics Postal geography OpenStreetMap Postcode map Strowger net postcodes of the UK Archived 24 July 2010 at the Wayback Machine UK Business Lists Map of UK Postcodes Direct Marketing Lists UK postcode map Business Lists UK postcode map FREE Vector UK Postcode Maps PostcodeArea Demographics maps crime rates house prices and local information for all UK postcodes Strange Maps Frank Jacobs Diagrammatic Map Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title List of postcode areas in the United Kingdom amp oldid 1169243365, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
