For the purposes of directing mail, the United Kingdom is divided
by
Royal Mail into
postcode
areas. The postcode area is the largest geographical unit
used and forms the initial characters of the alphanumeric
UK postcode.
Subdivision
Each postcode area is further divided into
post town and
postcode
district. There are on average 20 postcode districts to a
postcode area. Within the
London
postal district the "London" post town is instead divided into
several postcode areas.
Scope
The one or two letters chosen for the postcode areas are generally
intended as a
mnemonic for the places they
serve. The postcode areas,
post towns and
postcode districts do not follow parish, district, county or
national boundaries and usually serve much larger areas than the
placenames they are associated with.
For example, within
the PA postcode area the PA1 and PA78 postcode districts are 140
miles apart; and the eight postcode areas of the London post town cover only 40% of
Greater
London
. 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
.
United Kingdom postcode areas
Crown dependencies
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.
Defunct postcode areas
London NE and S
Glasgow
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.
Dublin
Dublin
was split into Dublin postal districts by the 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 postcode area
D has not been re-used within the UK.
Norwich and Croydon
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, eg NOR
07A.
Non-geographic postcodes
GIR 0AA
is a postcode created for Girobank's
Bootle
address and does not use an ordinary postcode
area.
Additionally the non-geographic postcode area BX has been
introduced for addresses which do not have any locality as part of
the address, allowing large organisations long-term flexibility as
to where they receive their mail. This postcode area is used by
Lloyds TSB (BX1 1LT) and the VAT Central
Unit of
HM Revenue and
Customs (BX5 5AT).
References
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