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 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 with postcodes in the inner London area (but this does not correspond completely to other definitions of inner London).
Note that the postcodes, and also the full postal addresses, do not follow local government or traditional county boundaries. The London postal districts cover a much smaller area than the Greater London Authority and many areas in outer London have non-London postcodes, eg. UB - Uxbridge.
Postal counties are no longer required by Royal Mail; and if a postcode is supplied, the county will be ignored. Many people will still quote their address using them, however.
See also List of postal districts in the United Kingdom for a list of the 2900 districts, for example UB40.
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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 City of 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 (and Gants Hill)
- 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 (possibly generic for other placenames beginning Llan- or Llyn-)
- 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 (and Morden)
- SN - Swindon
- SO - Southampton
- SP - Salisbury (The P is a mystery - Salisbury Plain?)
- 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 - Teesside
- TW - Twickenham
- UB - Uxbridge
- W - West London
- WA - Warrington
- WC - West City of 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. There were introduced in 2003 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
- BIQQ 1ZZ - British Antarctic Territory
- FIQQ 1ZZ - Falkland Islands
- SIQQ 1ZZ - South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands
- STHL 1ZZ - Saint Helena
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
- UK topics
- Postal counties of Great Britain
- Communications in the United Kingdom
- UK telephone area codes (STD codes)
External links
- Postal Geography (http://www.statistics.gov.uk/geography/postal_geog.asp) page from the Office of National Statistics (ONS)