London postal district
Categories: London postal districts | Lists of postal codes | Postal system of the United Kingdom
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The system of London postal districts predated the introduction of postcodes throughout the United Kingdom in the 1960s. The first system, of ten sectors identified by letters, was introduced in 1858; the numbered subdivisions date from 1917. The 1917 subdivisions remain important, because they form the first part of the two-part modern postcode (so N1 1AA is an address in the old N1 district), and because they continue to be used by Londoners to refer to their districts.
The London postal districts are organized by sectors, as follows, and then numbered alphabetically within their sectors.
- In central London, WC and EC (West Central and East Central)
- In the rest of London, N, NW, SW, SE, W and E.
- In some of outer London the districts derive from the location of the main sorting office, as with other UK postcodes.
The London postal districts were created solely to help sort and deliver mail and therefore rarely coincide with the boundaries of London boroughs (even the old, smaller metropolitan boroughs). The numbering system also appears arbitrary on the map: for example, NW1 is close to central London, but NW2 is a long way out. This is because, within each sector, they were numbered by first assigning the number 1 to the closest district to the centre, and then the rest of the number were assigned alphabetically by the name of the district they represented; in the SE and SW districts two alphabetical lists were added.
Matters were confused further as the postal districts created covered an area much larger than the London County Council boundaries of 1888 with 44 of the 119 districts outside the County of London boundaries and places such as Leyton in Essex, Ealing in Middlesex, Penge in Kent and Barnes in Surrey covered by the London postal area. In 1965 the creation of Greater London caused London's boundary to expand to include these places officially as well as postally, however the new boundary went far beyond these postal districts to include places that were not in the London postal area. Royal Mail did not follow this change and expand the postal area to match. It now has a policy of only changing postcodes if there is an operational advantage to them and have no plans to change the postcode system to match up with London's boundaries. Places in London's outer boroughs such as Enfield, Ilford, Beckenham, Richmond and Croydon are therefore not covered by the postal districts. A notable exception is Sewardstone which is within the London postal area but outside the Greater London boundary in Essex.
It is common to use postal districts as placenames in London, particularly in the property market: a property may be described as being "in N11". They are a convenient shorthand for social status, such that a 'desirable' postcode may add significantly to the value of property, and property developers have pressed for the boundaries of postal districts to be altered so that new developments will sound as though they are in a richer area.
There are no London postal districts labelled "NE" or "S". These were in the initial division but were later removed as they were considered unnecessary. These two codes have since been applied to Newcastle Upon Tyne and Sheffield respectively.
The BBC soap opera EastEnders is set in the fictional postal district of E20.
All Head District Sorting Offices, except London South East, were connected by and had stations on the Post Office Underground Railway.
List of London postal districts
All London postal districts are correctly prefixed with the post town 'LONDON'.
| London postal district | London East Central |
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EC1 Head District | EC2 Bishopsgate | EC3 Fenchurch Street | EC4 Fleet Street |
| London postal district | London West Central |
| London postal district | London North |
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N1 Head District | N2 East Finchley | N3 Finchley | N4 Finsbury Park | N5 Highbury | N6 Highgate |
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N7 Holloway | N8 Hornsey | N9 Lower Edmonton | N10 Muswell Hill | N11 New Southgate | N12 North Finchley |
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N13 Palmers Green | N14 Southgate | N15 South Tottenham | N16 Stoke Newington | N17 Tottenham |
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N18 Upper Edmonton | N19 Upper Holloway | N20 Whetstone | N21 Winchmore Hill | N22 Wood Green |
| London postal district | London North West |
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NW1 Head District | NW2 Cricklewood | NW3 Hampstead | NW4 Hendon | NW5 Kentish Town | NW6 Kilburn |
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NW7 Mill Hill | NW8 St John's Wood | NW9 The Hyde | NW10 Willesden | NW11 Golders Green |
| London postal district | London East |
|
E1 Head District | E2 Bethnal Green | E3 Bow | E4 Chingford | E5 Clapton |
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E6 East Ham | E7 Forest Gate | E8 Hackney | E9 Homerton | E10 Leyton |
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E11 Leytonstone | E12 Manor Park | E13 Plaistow | E14 Poplar | E15 Stratford |
| London postal district | London West |
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W1 Head District | W2 Paddington | W3 Acton | W4 Chiswick | W5 Ealing |
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W6 Hammersmith | W7 Hanwell | W8 Kensington | W9 Maida Vale | W10 North Kensington |
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W11 Notting Hill | W12 Shepherds Bush | W13 West Ealing | W14 West Kensington |
| London postal district | London South East |
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SE1 Head District | SE2 Abbey Wood | SE3 Blackheath | SE4 Brockley | SE5 Camberwell | SE6 Catford | SE7 Charlton |
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SE8 Deptford | SE9 Eltham | SE10 Greenwich | SE11 Kennington | SE12 Lee | SE13 Lewisham | SE14 New Cross |
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SE15 Peckham | SE16 Rotherhithe | SE17 Walworth | SE18 Woolwich | SE19 Upper Norwood | SE20 Anerley |
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SE21 Dulwich | SE22 East Dulwich | SE23 Forest Hill | SE24 Herne Hill | SE25 South Norwood | SE26 Sydenham |
| London postal district | London South West |
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SW1 Head District | SW2 Brixton | SW3 Chelsea | SW4 Clapham | SW5 Earls Court |
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SW6 Fulham | SW7 South Kensington | SW8 South Lambeth | SW9 Stockwell | SW10 West Brompton |
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SW11 Battersea | SW12 Balham | SW13 Barnes | SW14 Mortlake | SW15 Putney |
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SW16 Streatham | SW17 Tooting | SW18 Wandsworth | SW19 Wimbledon | SW20 West Wimbledon |
Note: NW11 (Golders Green) seems to be out of the usual alphabetical order, possibly because its post office was referred to as Willifield Green, which would come alphabetically after Willesden. The fictional postal district on "East Enders" is called Walford, a mixture of Walthamstow and Stratford, but is numbered E20.
Map of London postal districts
Greater London
The remaining districts are covered by the postcodes below:
See also
External links
- Additional information
- Maps, photos, and other images
- London postcode map
- intoLondon.com has a clickable map with which you can zoom in and explore the different postcodes of London, including their landmarks and transport links.
