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]
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]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 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Address Management Guide (5th ed.). Royal Mail Group plc. March 2007. Archived from the original on 8 November 2012. Retrieved 22 October 2012.
- ↑ 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 from the original (PDF) on 30 October 2012. Retrieved 22 October 2012.
- 1 2 "Postcodes in the UK - Jonathan Rawle's Website".
- ↑ "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]
- ↑ "Anguilla Has A Postal Code, AI-2640", The Anguillian, 12 October 2007
- ↑ First postcode for remote UK isle. BBC News. 7 August 2005.
- ↑ Turks and Caicos Islands Archived 2008-04-10 at the Wayback Machine. Bureau International UPU.
- ↑ Landmark birthday for postcode[permanent dead link]
Other websites
[change | change source]- Office for National Statistics - Postal geography Archived 2015-05-30 at the Wayback Machine
- OpenStreetMap - Postcode map
- UK Postcode Finder Archived 2024-10-07 at the Wayback Machine
- Strowger net: postcodes of the UK Archived 2010-07-24 at the Wayback Machine
- Direct Marketing Lists UK postcode map Archived 2016-12-22 at the Wayback Machine
- Business Lists UK postcode map Archived 2008-08-19 at the Wayback Machine
- FREE Vector UK Postcode Maps
- PostcodeArea - Demographics, maps, crime rates, house prices and local information for all UK postcodes[permanent dead link]
- Strange Maps - Frank Jacobs - Diagrammatic Map - Archived 2011-11-23 at the Wayback Machine
- Area Information Archived 2019-08-21 at the Wayback Machine - Wide variety of information for each UK postcodes. Housing information to residential data, crime statistics to sold house prices. Archived 2019-08-21 at the Wayback Machine