List of postal areas in the United Kingdom
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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. Normally this prefix, the postal area, denotes the location of the main sorting office through which the post for that place is filtered before being distributed to individual addresses; the only exception to this rule is the London postal area which is divided into sectors which are named after points on the compass.
Note that the postal districts and post towns do not follow current or historic county boundaries. The London postal districts cover a smaller area than the Greater London Authority and many places in Outer London are covered by parts of twelve adjoining postal areas (EN, IG, RM, DA, BR, TN, CR, SM, KT, TW, HA and UB).
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.
United Kingdom postal areas
- 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 (covers the whole 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 - East London
- EC - East Central London
- EH - Edinburgh
- EN - Enfield
- EX - Exeter
- FK - Falkirk
- FY - Blackpool (Fylde)
- G - Glasgow
- GL - Gloucester
- GU - Guildford
- HA - Harrow
- HD - Huddersfield
- HG - Harrogate
- HP - Hemel Hempstead
- HR - Hereford
- HS - Outer Hebrides
- HU - Kingston upon 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 - Medway Towns
- 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
- SN - Swindon
- SO - Southampton
- SP - Salisbury
- SR - Sunderland
- SS - Southend on Sea
- ST - Stoke-on-Trent
- SW - South West London
- SY - Shrewsbury
- TA - Taunton
- TD - Galashiels (Tweed)
- TF - Telford
- TN - Tonbridge
- TQ - Torquay
- TR - Truro
- TS - Middlesbrough (Teesside)
- TW - Twickenham
- UB - Uxbridge
- W - West London
- WA - Warrington
- WC - West Central London
- WD - Watford
- WF - Wakefield
- WN - Wigan
- WR - Worcester
- WS - Walsall
- WV - Wolverhampton
- YO - York
- ZE - Shetland (Zetland)
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 UK's 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 Postal 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 postal areas. In the early 20th Century 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. Eg Liverpool 6, which later became L6.However several of these postal 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 postal area was later recycled to Newcastle-Upon-Tyne
- *S was abolished in the 19th Century by merging into the SE and SW postal areas, the S postal 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 1st 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 neccesitate 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)
- E20 - Walford, East London (EastEnders)
- RE1 - the city-sized interplanetary vessel Red Dwarf (Red Dwarf) (Probably considered an overseas territory)
See also
External links
- [Postal Geography] page from the Office for National Statistics (ONS)
- [Map of UK postal areas]
- [Map of postal districts by region - can drill-down into district maps] (Note: Does not work in Firefox browser.)
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