List of Postcode Areas in the UK

Postcodes in the United Kingdom are alphanumeric codes used by Royal Mail for the purposes of directing mail within the UK.

There are 121 postcode areas in the United Kingdom (excluding non-geographic postcodes and the crown dependencies).

They consist of one or two letters (the postcode area); one or two numbers (the postcode district); followed by a space; one number (the postcode sector); and two letters. In some central London postcodes, there is an additional letter after the postcode district number. For example, the postcode of 10 Downing Street, London is SW1A 2AA. The first set of characters is known as the outward code and the second set of characters is the inward code.

Structure of an example full postcode – AB12 3DE

• AB12 – this is the outward code. The two letters is the postcode area and is usually an abbreviation of a town or city (some large cities such as Birmingham have just one letter). The number is the postcode district. In some towns and cities, 1 indicates that it is in the town centre and the number increases as you get further from the centre. Some other postcode areas do not start from 1. In some parts of central London, an extra letter is added after the number.
• 3DE – this is the inward code. The number is the postcode sector, which is a division of the postcode district and always consists of one digit. The two letters are the postcode unit, which usually represents a street, a group of properties or a block of flats.

This article lists every postcode area of the United Kingdom; with the city or town it is centred on and/or named after; the ceremonial counties (or council areas in Scotland) that they are located in; the regions they are located in; and the number of postcode districts that they are split into. This list is correct as of 1 January 2022.

Postcode Areas in the United Kingdom

Postcode area	Centred on	Ceremonial county	Region	Number of districts
AB	Aberdeen	Aberdeen Aberdeenshire Moray	Scotland	40
AL	St Albans	Hertfordshire	East	10
B	Birmingham	West Midlands Staffordshire Warwickshire Worcestershire	West Midlands	79
BA	Bath	Somerset Wiltshire	South West	19
BB	Blackburn	Lancashire	North West	15
BD	Bradford	West Yorkshire Lancashire	Yorkshire Humber North West	27
BH	Bournemouth	Dorset Hampshire	South West South East	26
BL	Bolton	Greater Manchester Lancashire	North West	12
BN	Brighton	East Sussex West Sussex	South East	37
BR	Bromley	London Kent	London South East	9
BS	Bristol	Bristol Gloucestershire Somerset	South West	47
BT	Belfast	County Antrim County Armagh County Down County Fermanagh County Londonderry County Tyrone	Northern Ireland	84
CA	Carlisle	Cumbria Northumberland	North West North East	30
CB	Cambridge	Cambridgeshire Essex Suffolk	East	16
CF	Cardiff	South Glamorgan Mid Glamorgan Gwent	Wales	46
CH	Chester	Cheshire Clwyd Merseyside	North West Wales	37
CM	Chelmsford	Essex Hertfordshire London	East London	28
CO	Colchester	Essex Suffolk	East	16
CR	Croydon	London Surrey	London South East	11
CT	Canterbury	Kent	South East	22
CV	Coventry	West Midlands Warwickshire	West Midlands	24
CW	Crewe	Cheshire Shropshire Staffordshire	North West West Midlands	13
DA	Dartford	Kent London	South East London	18
DD	Dundee	Dundee Angus Perth and Kinross Fife Aberdeenshire	Scotland	11
DE	Derby	Derbyshire Leicestershire Nottinghamshire Staffordshire	East Midlands West Midlands	25
DG	Dumfries	Dumfries and Galloway South Ayrshire Cumbria	Scotland North West	15
DH	Durham	County Durham Tyne and Wear Northumberland	North East	12
DL	Darlington	County Durham North Yorkshire Cumbria	North East Yorkshire Humber North West	17
DN	Doncaster	South Yorkshire East Riding of Yorkshire North Lincolnshire North East Lincolnshire North Yorkshire Nottinghamshire	Yorkshire Humber East Midlands	33
DT	Dorchester	Dorset Devon Somerset	South West	11
DY	Dudley	West Midlands	West Midlands	14
E	London: East	London Essex	London East	22
EC	London: East Central	London	London	30
EH	Edinburgh	Edinburgh Midlothian East Lothian West Lothian Scottish Borders Falkirk South Lanarkshire	Scotland	57
EN	Enfield	London Essex Hertfordshire	London East	12
EX	Exeter	Devon Cornwall	South West	33
FK	Falkirk	Falkirk Argyll and Bute Clackmannanshire Perth and Kinross Stirling	Scotland	21
FY	Blackpool	Lancashire	North West	9
G	Glasgow	Glasgow North Lanarkshire South Lanarkshire East Renfrewshire East Dunbartonshire West Dunbartonshire Argyll and Bute Stirling	Scotland	57
GL	Gloucester	Gloucestershire Gwent Herefordshire Oxfordshire Warwickshire Wiltshire Worcestershire	South West Wales West Midlands South East	27
GU	Guildford	Surrey Berkshire Hampshire West Sussex	South East	40
HA	Harrow	London Hertfordshire	London East	10
HD	Huddersfield	West Yorkshire	Yorkshire Humber	9
HG	Harrogate	North Yorkshire	Yorkshire Humber	5
HP	Hemel Hempstead	Hertfordshire Buckinghamshire	East South East	24
HR	Hereford	Herefordshire Powys	West Midlands Wales	9
HS	Stornoway	Na h-Eileanan Siar	Scotland	9
HU	Hull	East Riding of Yorkshire	Yorkshire Humber	21
HX	Halifax	West Yorkshire	Yorkshire Humber	7
IG	Ilford	London Essex	London East	11
IP	Ipswich	Suffolk Norfolk	East	34
IV	Inverness	Highland Moray	Scotland	53
KA	Kilmarnock	East Ayrshire North Ayrshire South Ayrshire	Scotland	30
KT	Kingston upon Thames	London Surrey	London South East	24
KW	Kirkwall	Orkney Highland	Scotland	16
KY	Kirkcaldy	Fife Perth and Kinross	Scotland	17
L	Liverpool	Merseyside Cheshire Lancashire	North West	65
LA	Lancaster	Lancashire Cumbria North Yorkshire	North West Yorkshire Humber	23
LD	Llandrindod Wells	Powys Herefordshire Shropshire	Wales West Midlands	8
LE	Leicester	Leicestershire Derbyshire Northamptonshire Nottinghamshire Rutland Warwickshire	East Midlands West Midlands	28
LL	Llandudno	Clwyd Gwynedd Shropshire	Wales West Midlands	67
LN	Lincoln	Lincolnshire North Lincolnshire North East Lincolnshire	East Midlands Yorkshire Humber	13
LS	Leeds	West Yorkshire North Yorkshire	Yorkshire Humber	32
LU	Luton	Bedfordshire Buckinghamshire Hertfordshire	East South East	8
M	Manchester	Greater Manchester	North West	48
ME	Rochester	Kent	South East	21
MK	Milton Keynes	Buckinghamshire Bedfordshire Cambridgeshire Northamptonshire Oxfordshire	South East East East Midlands	28
ML	Motherwell	North Lanarkshire Dumfries and Galloway Scottish Borders South Lanarkshire West Lothian	Scotland	12
N	London: North	London	London	25
NE	Newcastle upon Tyne	Tyne and Wear County Durham Northumberland	North East	67
NG	Nottingham	Nottinghamshire Derbyshire Leicestershire Lincolnshire	East Midlands	32
NN	Northampton	Northamptonshire Bedfordshire Buckinghamshire Oxfordshire Warwickshire	East Midlands East South East West Midlands	20
NP	Newport	Gwent Gloucestershire Herefordshire Powys	Wales South West West Midlands	25
NR	Norwich	Norfolk Suffolk	East	36
NW	London: North West	London	London	13
OL	Oldham	Greater Manchester Lancashire West Yorkshire	North West Yorkshire Humber	17
OX	Oxford	Oxfordshire Berkshire Buckinghamshire Gloucestershire Northamptonshire Warwickshire	South East South West East Midlands West Midlands	28
PA	Paisley	Renfrewshire Argyll and Bute Inverclyde North Ayrshire	Scotland	77
PE	Peterborough	Cambridgeshire Bedfordshire Lincolnshire Norfolk Northamptonshire Rutland	East East Midlands	39
PH	Perth	Perth and Kinross Highland	Scotland	43
PL	Plymouth	Devon Cornwall	South West	36
PO	Portsmouth	Hampshire Isle of Wight West Sussex	South East	34
PR	Preston	Lancashire Merseyside	North West	13
RG	Reading	Berkshire Buckinghamshire Hampshire Oxfordshire Wiltshire	South East South West	35
RH	Redhill	Surrey East Sussex West Sussex	South East	21
RM	Romford	London Essex	London East	21
S	Sheffield	South Yorkshire Derbyshire Nottinghamshire	Yorkshire Humber East Midlands	55
SA	Swansea	West Glamorgan Dyfed Powys	Wales	53
SE	London: South East	London	London	30
SG	Stevenage	Hertfordshire Bedfordshire Cambridgeshire Essex	East	19
SK	Stockport	Greater Manchester Cheshire Derbyshire Staffordshire	North West East Midlands West Midlands	19
SL	Slough	Berkshire Buckinghamshire	South East	12
SM	Sutton	London Surrey	London South East	7
SN	Swindon	Wiltshire Gloucestershire Oxfordshire	South West South East	23
SO	Southampton	Hampshire	South East	30
SP	Salisbury	Wiltshire Dorset Hampshire	South West South East	11
SR	Sunderland	Tyne and Wear County Durham	North East	11
SS	Southend-on-Sea	Essex	East	19
ST	Stoke-on-Trent	Staffordshire Cheshire Derbyshire	West Midlands North West East Midlands	22
SW	London: South West	London	London	29
SY	Shrewsbury	Shropshire Cheshire Clwyd Dyfed Gwynedd Herefordshire Powys	West Midlands North West Wales	26
TA	Taunton	Somerset Devon Dorset	South West	24
TD	Galashiels	Scottish Borders Cumbria East Lothian Northumberland	Scotland North West North East	15
TF	Telford	Shropshire Staffordshire West Midlands	West Midlands	13
TN	Tunbridge Wells	Kent East Sussex London Surrey	South East London	40
TQ	Torquay	Devon	South West	14
TR	Truro	Cornwall	South West	28
TS	Middlesbrough	North Yorkshire County Durham	Yorkshire Humber North East	30
TW	Twickenham	London Berkshire Surrey	London South East	20
UB	Southall	London Buckinghamshire	London South East	12
W	London: West	London	London	35
WA	Warrington	Cheshire Greater Manchester Merseyside	North West	18
WC	London: West Central	London	London	15
WD	Watford	Hertfordshire Buckinghamshire London	East South East London	14
WF	Wakefield	West Yorkshire North Yorkshire	Yorkshire Humber	18
WN	Wigan	Greater Manchester Lancashire Merseyside	North West	8
WR	Worcester	Worcestershire Gloucestershire Herefordshire Shropshire Warwickshire	West Midlands South West	17
WS	Walsall	West Midlands Staffordshire	West Midlands	15
WV	Wolverhampton	West Midlands Staffordshire	West Midlands	16
YO	York	North Yorkshire East Riding of Yorkshire	Yorkshire Humber	37
ZE	Lerwick	Shetland	Scotland	3

Postcode Areas in Crown Dependencies

The three British Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man also have postcodes which are used in a similar way to those in the UK.

Postcode Area	Crown Dependency	Number of Districts
GY	Guernsey	10
JE	Jersey	5
IM	Isle of Man	11

Postcode Areas in Overseas Territories

Unlike the Crown Dependencies, the British Overseas Territories do not use UK-style postcodes. Instead, each territory has its own postcode system, or none at all.

Non-geographic Postcodes

The British Forces Post Office introduced a BF postcode in 2012 and uses a non-geographic post-town, BFPO. This was introduced to create consistency with UK addresses, for example, making it easier to input a BFPO address in online forms.

Some large organisations such as banks use a BX postcode to receive their mail. These follow the format of usual UK postcodes.

The XX postcode is used by some online retailers for the purposes of receiving returned goods through Royal Mail.

See also

• Royal Mail Postcode Finder – Find out any postcode or address in the UK