List of postcode areas in the United Kingdom
The list of postcode areas in the United Kingdom is a tabulation of the postcode areas used by Royal Mail for the purposes of directing mail within the United Kingdom. The postcode area is the largest geographical unit used and forms the initial characters of the alphanumeric UK postcode. There are currently 121 geographic postcode areas in use in the UK and a further 3 often combined with these covering the Crown Dependencies of Guernsey, Jersey and Isle of Man.
Subdivision
Each postcode area is further divided into post towns and postcode districts. There are on average 20 postcode districts to a postcode area. The London post town is instead divided into several postcode areas.Scope
The single or pair of letters chosen for postcode areas are generally intended as a mnemonic for the places served. Postcode areas, post towns and postcode districts do not follow political boundaries and usually serve much larger areas than the place names with which they are associated. 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
| Postcode area | Postcode area name | Code formation |
| 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 | |
| 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 | 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 | The Fylde |
| G | Glasgow | |
| GL | Gloucester | |
| GU | Guildford | |
| HA | Harrow | |
| HD | Huddersfield | |
| HG | Harrogate | |
| HP | Hemel Hempstead | |
| HR | Hereford | |
| HS | Hebrides | |
| HU | Hull | |
| HX | Halifax | |
| IG | Ilford | Possibly Ilford and Barking |
| IP | Ipswich | |
| IV | Inverness | |
| KA | Kilmarnock | Possibly Kilmarnock and Ayr or 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 | |
| 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 | Possibly Sutton and Morden, the two post towns that are within the SM area |
| SN | Swindon | |
| SO | Southampton | |
| SP | Salisbury | Salisbury Plain |
| SR | Sunderland | |
| SS | Southend-on-Sea | |
| ST | Stoke-on-Trent | |
| SW | South West London | |
| SY | Shrewsbury | |
| TA | Taunton | |
| TD | Tweeddale | |
| TF | Telford | |
| TN | Tunbridge Wells | |
| TQ | Torquay | |
| TR | Truro | |
| TS | Teesside | |
| TW | Twickenham | |
| UB | Southall | 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 | Lerwick | Zetland |
Crown dependencies
The Crown dependencies did not introduce postcodes until later, but use a similar coding scheme. They are separate postal authorities.| Postcode area | Postcode area name |
| GY | Guernsey |
| JE | Jersey |
| IM | Isle of Man |
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.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, e.g. NOR 07A.Non-geographic postcodes
Note that a number of non-geographic postcode sectors are also contained within geographic postcode areas.GIR
GIR 0AA is a postcode created for Girobank in Bootle. It remained in use by its successors when Girobank was taken over by Alliance & Leicester and subsequently by Santander UK.BF
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
The non-geographic postcode area BX has been introduced for addresses which do not include a locality: this allows large organisations long-term flexibility as to where they receive their mail. This postcode area is used by Lloyds Banking Group and parts of the HM Revenue and Customs like VAT Central Unit and Pay as You Earn. Lloyds Bank also use BX4. After splitting from Lloyds, TSB Bank uses BX4 7SB, the latter part of which, when written, looks similar to "TSB".XX
The non-geographic postcode area XX is used by online retailers for returns by Royal Mail.| Retailer | XX Postcodes |
| Amazon.co.uk | XX10 1DD XX50 1DD XX30 1FF |
| ASOS.com | XX10 1AA |
| Boohoo.com | XX10 1BB |
| John Lewis | XX10 1EE |
| Very.co.uk | XX20 1BD |
| musicMagpie | XX20 1BF |
| HP | XX40 1EH |
| Zara | XX40 1EJ |
| Mango | XX40 1EN |
| Monsoon Accessorize | XX40 1EP |
| Boden.co.uk | XX40 1EG |
| Biocentre | XX40 4FL |
| AstraZeneca | XX40 8AZ |
Overseas territories
Certain British Overseas Territories have postcodes:| Postcode | Location |
| AI-2640 | Anguilla |
ASCN 1ZZ STHL 1ZZ TDCU 1ZZ | Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha: Ascension Island Saint Helena Tristan da Cunha |
| 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 |
| BFPO 57 / BF1 2AT BFPO 58 / BF1 2AU | Akrotiri and Dhekelia |
| Bermuda | |
| Cayman Islands | |
| British Virgin Islands | |
| Montserrat |
These were introduced to prevent mail being sent to the wrong place, e.g., for St Helena to St Helens, Merseyside 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.