List of postcode areas in the United Kingdom

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The United Kingdom is divided by Royal Mail into postcode areas. The postcode area is the largest geographical unit used and forms the first characters of the alphanumeric UK postcode.[1]

Subdivision[change | change source]

Each postcode area is divided into post towns and postcode districts.[1] The London post town is instead divided into several postcode areas.[2]

Scope[change | change source]

The single or pair of letters chosen for postcode areas are generally a mnemonic for the places served.[1]

United Kingdom postcode areas[change | change source]

Map of the United Kingdom and Crown dependencies showing postcode area boundariesAB postcode areaAL postcode areaB postcode areaBA postcode areaBB postcode areaBD postcode areaBH postcode areaBL postcode areaBN postcode areaBR postcode areaBS postcode areaBT postcode areaBT postcode areaCA postcode areaCB postcode areaCF postcode areaCH postcode areaCM postcode areaCO postcode areaCR postcode areaCT postcode areaCV postcode areaCW postcode areaDA postcode areaDD postcode areaDE postcode areaDG postcode areaDH postcode areaDL postcode areaDN postcode areaDT postcode areaDY postcode areaE postcode areaEC postcode areaEH postcode areaEN postcode areaEX postcode areaEX postcode areaFK postcode areaFY postcode areaG postcode areaGL postcode areaGU postcode areaGY postcode areaHA postcode areaHD postcode areaHG postcode areaHP postcode areaHR postcode areaHS postcode areaHU postcode areaHX postcode areaIG postcode areaIM postcode areaIP postcode areaIV postcode areaJE postcode areaKA postcode areaKA postcode areaKT postcode areaKW postcode areaKW postcode areaKY postcode areaL postcode areaLA postcode areaLD postcode areaLE postcode areaLL postcode areaLN postcode areaLS postcode areaLU postcode areaM postcode areaME postcode areaMK postcode areaML postcode areaN postcode areaNE postcode areaNG postcode areaNN postcode areaNP postcode areaNR postcode areaNW postcode areaOL postcode areaOX postcode areaPA postcode areaPA postcode areaPA postcode areaPE postcode areaPH postcode areaPH postcode areaPH postcode areaPH postcode areaPL postcode areaPO postcode areaPR postcode areaRG postcode areaRH postcode areaRM postcode areaS postcode areaSA postcode areaSE postcode areaSG postcode areaSK postcode areaSL postcode areaSM postcode areaSN postcode areaSO postcode areaSP postcode areaSR postcode areaSS postcode areaST postcode areaSW postcode areaSY postcode areaTA postcode areaTD postcode areaTF postcode areaTN postcode areaTQ postcode areaTR postcode areaTR postcode areaTS postcode areaTW postcode areaUB postcode areaW postcode areaWA postcode areaWC postcode areaWD postcode areaWF postcode areaWN postcode areaWR postcode areaWS postcode areaWV postcode areaYO postcode areaZE postcode areaZE postcode areaZE postcode areaZE postcode areaAL postcode areaBR postcode areaCM postcode areaCR postcode areaDA postcode areaE postcode areaEC postcode areaEN postcode areaGU postcode areaHA postcode areaIG postcode areaKT postcode areaN postcode areaNW postcode areaRM postcode areaSE postcode areaSL postcode areaSM postcode areaSW postcode areaTN postcode areaTW postcode areaUB postcode areaW postcode areaWC postcode areaWD postcode areaWD postcode areaBB postcode areaBD postcode areaBL postcode areaCH postcode areaCW postcode areaDE postcode areaDN postcode areaFY postcode areaHD postcode areaHG postcode areaHX postcode areaL postcode areaLA postcode areaLL postcode areaLL postcode areaLS postcode areaM postcode areaNG postcode areaOL postcode areaPR postcode areaS postcode areaSK postcode areaST postcode areaWA postcode areaWF postcode areaWN postcode areaYO postcode area
Map of postcode areas in the United Kingdom and Crown dependencies, with links to each postcode area
Postcode area Postcode area name[1][3] Code formation
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
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[1] Dumfries and Galloway
DH Durham
DL Darlington
DN Doncaster
DT Dorchester
DY Dudley
E East London
EC East Central London
EH Edinburgh
EN Enfield
EX Exeter
FK Falkirk
FY Blackpool[1] The Fylde
G Glasgow
GL Gloucester
GU Guildford
HA Harrow
HD Huddersfield
HG Harrogate
HP Hemel Hempstead
HR Hereford
HS Outer Hebrides[1] First and last letters of Hebrides
HU Hull
HX Halifax
IG Ilford[1] Possibly Ilford and Chigwell, or Ilford and Barking[4]
IP Ipswich
IV Inverness
KA Kilmarnock
KT Kingston upon Thames
KW Kirkwall
KY Kirkcaldy
L Liverpool
LA Lancaster
LD Llandrindod Wells[1]
LE Leicester
LL Llandudno
LN Lincoln
LS Leeds
LU Luton
M Manchester
ME Rochester[1] Medway (now sometimes known as Maidstone[5])
MK Milton Keynes
ML Motherwell
N North London
NE Newcastle upon Tyne
NG Nottingham
NN Northampton
NP Newport
NR Norwich
NW North West London
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
SE South East London
SG Stevenage
SK Stockport
SL Slough
SM Sutton[1] Possibly Sutton and Morden, the two post towns that are within the SM area [4]
SN Swindon
SO Southampton
SP Salisbury[1] Salisbury Plain
SR Sunderland
SS Southend-on-Sea
ST Stoke-on-Trent
SW South West London
SY Shrewsbury
TA Taunton
TD Galashiels[1] Tweeddale
TF Telford
TN Tunbridge Wells[1]
TQ Torquay
TR Truro
TS Cleveland[1] Teesside
TW Twickenham
UB Southall[1] Uxbridge
W West London
WA Warrington
WC Western Central London
WD Watford
WF Wakefield
WN Wigan
WR Worcester
WS Walsall
WV Wolverhampton
YO York
ZE Lerwick[1] Zetland

Crown dependencies[change | change source]

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]

Postcode area Postcode area name
GY Guernsey
JE Jersey
IM Isle of Man

Defunct postcode areas[change | change source]

London NE and S[change | change source]

Glasgow[change | change source]

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[change | change source]

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.

Non-geographic postcodes[change | change source]

GIR[change | change source]

GIR 0AA is a postcode created for Girobank in Bootle.

BF[change | change source]

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[change | change source]

The non-geographic postcode area BX has been introduced for addresses which do not include a locality: this allows large organisations flexibility as to where they receive their mail.

Overseas territories[change | change source]

Certain British overseas territories have postcodes:

Postcode Location
AI-2640 Anguilla[6]

ASCN 1ZZ
STHL 1ZZ
TDCU 1ZZ
Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha:
Ascension Island
Saint Helena
Tristan da Cunha[7]
BBND 1ZZ British Indian Ocean Territory
BIQQ 1ZZ British Antarctic Territory
FIQQ 1ZZ Falkland Islands
GX11 1AA Gibraltar
PCRN 1ZZ Pitcairn Islands
SIQQ 1ZZ South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands
TKCA 1ZZ Turks and Caicos Islands[8]
BFPO 57 / BF1 2AT(Akrotiri)
BFPO 58 / BF1 2AU (Dhekelia)
Akrotiri and Dhekelia
List Archived 2018-04-17 at the Wayback Machine Bermuda
List Archived 2017-04-07 at the Wayback Machine Cayman Islands
List British Virgin Islands
List Montserrat

These were introduced to prevent mail being sent to the wrong place, e.g., for St Helena to St Helens, Merseyside[9] and Ascension Island to Asunción, Paraguay, and many on-line companies will not accept addresses lacking a postcode. Such mail is treated as international, not inland, so sufficient postage must be used.

Related pages[change | change source]

References[change | change source]

  1. 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 1.16 1.17 Address Management Guide (5th ed.). Royal Mail Group plc. March 2007. Archived from the original on 8 November 2012. Retrieved 22 October 2012.
  2. HMSO, The Inner London Letter Post, (1980)
  3. 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. Retrieved 22 October 2012.
  4. 4.0 4.1 "Postcodes in the UK - Jonathan Rawle's Website".
  5. "Quarterly Quality of Service Report to Postcomm – 2009/10 Quarter 1 Report" (PDF). Royal Mail. 2009-08-20. pp. 4–8 (table 2). Retrieved 2009-11-06.[permanent dead link]
  6. "Anguilla Has A Postal Code, AI-2640", The Anguillian, 12 October 2007
  7. First postcode for remote UK isle. BBC News. 7 August 2005.
  8. Turks and Caicos Islands Archived 2008-04-10 at the Wayback Machine. Bureau International UPU.
  9. Landmark birthday for postcode[permanent dead link]

Other websites[change | change source]