Postcodes are the UK equivalent
of USA zip codes. They are the most important part of any address
when sending postal mail. Whereas street names are in no way unique to any
one area, full extended postcodes are all unique and together with the house
number they will uniquely identify an individual address. For example one of the
best known addresses in London is the Prime Ministers residence at 10 Downing Street, London,
England SW1 2AA. However that address is totally identified simply
by stating "10 SW1 2AA". No two postcode addresses are identical
when you include the house number and the full postcode extended
postcode. So if you ever need to find an
address make sure you have the postcode for it or you could end up
totally in the wrong place. In fact postcodes can be different for
two sides of the same street (the difference will be in the last 3
digits for the extended postcode). We talk about postcodes and
extended postcodes because in general use its normal to simply
locate areas by the first 2 to 4 digits. If you look at the list in
the table below you will each area requires just 2 to 4 digits, and
this is the case for the whole of the UK. Only when it comes to
specific address would you need the full extended postcode. Taking
the above example Downing Street will be referred to as being in the
SW1 area. The SW1 identifies it as being in Victoria/Westminster.
The area part of the postcode and the full extended part are easily
identified because they are written with a gap. So in our example we
write SW1 then 2AA to identify the Street as being SW1 2AA.
Central London areas are divided into what are known as LONDON
POSTCODES. Each small section of London is allocated a 1-3 letter prefix
that corresponds to its compass location and then a following number and 2
letters to
distinguish it from adjoining streets within that area. For instance N3 is Finchley, while the
adjacent area is N2 which is East Finchley, and they are both located in
North London. The Centre of London is
given the letter 'C' for CENTRAL, and is split into WC1 (where WC
stands for West Central), WC2, EC1 (East Central), EC2, EC3, EC4.
For anyone who doesn't know London that system is a little
misleading. The EC1-4 postcodes are actually referred to now as the
'City of London'. The W1 postcode is often thought of
as central London because it is the Tourist and clubbing centre,
it's also known as the West End, but
it is actually slightly West of centre. Officially London centres on
Charing Cross Station in WC1.
Each compass point starts with the main district, for example N1 is centred
on Islington. From then on all areas sharing that compass point are given a
number that corresponds with the alphabetical order, N2 East Finchley N3
Finchley Central N4 Finsbury Park and so on.
Oddities:
Not all compass points are used within London. For example while there is
both South East (SE) and South West (SW) within London, NE (North East) is
used for Newcastle nearly 300 miles away.
Postcodes cover the whole of the United Kingdom with only the ones
in the list below known as London postcodes. While there are
many more postcodes that cover what is now considered London, i.e.
within the M25 motorway, the ones below are recognised London specific
postcodes.
To further confuse matters London is also divided into what are
called Boroughs and Constituencies. A London Borough is basically a form of local
government, raising local taxes and administering local services. So
London postcodes divide London on a geographical basis for postal
sorting while London Boroughs divide London by boundaries between
local authorities (boroughs). London Boroughs have a larger area
than London postcodes. London has 32 Boroughs.
A London Constituency, again different from postcodes and boroughs, is a an area drawn up to elect members to sit
on the London Assembly. The purpose of the London Assembly is to
oversee the work of the London Mayor. They have specific powers
which include being able to amend the Mayors budget plans for London
if they have a 2/3rds majority in favour of doing so.
>>>
For a map of London
Boroughs click here.
>>>
For a map and
explanation of London constituencies click here.
>>>
For a map of UK Counties
Click Here
>>>
Map and table of each postcode and the
district it covers