Despite appearances, the postcode numbering system was not drawn up by a postal worker high on envelope-glue fumes. There is method to the madness… sort of. Which explains why two postcodes with consecutive numbers can be really far away from each other, causing endless, hilarious confusion. But since then, new areas have been added to London and the whole lot has never been renumbered — because who has time for that? Support Time Out directly today and help us champion the people and places which make the city tick.
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Toggle navigation. Contact us or call: Tools Consultancy Clients Industries. Home Blog All you need to know about postcodes but were afraid to ask. Postcodes: how do they work and what can they do for us?
A brief history of the postcode How does the modern postcode system work? Postcodes, not just for post Alternatives to postcodes: the geography of government. More about postcodes: Postcode-to-postcode journey planning Postcodes give us a great key around which to plan travel, but for fleet or salesforce planning the calculations can be staggering. The geography of government How administrative geography has developed, how it works and how it compares to postcode geography.
The power of postcode sectors Grouping postcodes together into areas is a powerful geographic analysis tool but isn't as easy as you might think. A brief history of the humble postcode: When and why were postcodes introduced? After Mail volumes grow. A postcode system was needed to facilitate automated sorting. Early s: The Royal Mail starts a mechanisation program to introduce reliable mechanical sorting.
Sorting machines needed the address to be machine-readable, so a code system was developed from the Norwich trials. Norwich is the last place to be re-coded.
How does the modern UK postcode system work? District: One or two alphanumeric characters subdividing the area. Inward code Sector: 5: One numeric character subdividing the district. Unit: QW: Two alpha characters showing a group of buildings, a street, part of a street or a single delivery point. Largest size IV, Inverness 6, square miles. Average size square miles.
Smallest population ZE, Shetland 22, people. Largest population B, Birmingham 2 million people. Average population , Smallest number of districts in an area ZE, Shetland 3. Largest number of districts in an area BT, Belfast Average number of districts in an area Largest size is IV27, 1, square miles.
Average size 33 square miles. Smallest population UB11, West Drayton Largest population CR 0, Croydon , Average population 23, Smallest size EC3A 1, London, less than 0.
Largest size IV27 4, Lairg, Sutherland, 1, square miles. Average size 9. Smallest population EC3V 0, London 0.
Largest population E12 6, Little Ilford, London 26, Average population 7, But do postcodes matter any longer? There has long been a snob-value element to parts of the city. Property agent Simon Barnes of H. The same architect had designed another house in Notting Hill, W11, which attracted serious interest.
It proved that the postcode was the driver. Robbie Kerr, a director at Adam Architecture dismisses the idea that postcodes mean much today. Attitudes are changing, adds Mr Barnes. The last two characters are given randomly by a Royal Mail worker providing they are not currently used. In some areas these characters were all used up and further postcode areas had to be created eg SO3 was split into S and SO Each postcode generally represents a street, part of a street, or a single premises.
The part of the code before the space is the outward code or out code used to direct mail from one sorting office to the destination sorting office, while the part after the space is the inward code or in code used to sort the mail into individual delivery rounds, each separate code usually identifying the address to within 80 properties with an average of 14 properties per postal code , although large businesses may have a unique code.
The outward code can be split further into the area part letters identifying one of postal areas and the district part usually numbers ; similarly, the inward code is split into the sector part number and the unit part letters. Each "round" then has the the number in the second part of the post code with sub rounds the next number and so on. In most urban areas an individual post code covers 8 to 12 houses, all on the same side of the street.
EN1 in Enfield is where the sorting office is located, EN2 a bit further away etc. In London especially, the post codes were orginally done so that E1 for example was the area around the main sorting office Wapping, Whitechapel , the rest of the E postcodes went alphabetically, E2 is for Bethnal Green, E3 is for Bow Very entertaining, top marks.
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