What are postcodes?
In the UK all addresses are given address identities, known as 'postcodes'. Introduced by the Royal Mail back in 1959, postcodes consist of between six and eight alphanumeric characters to identify where a particular address is.
Originally, these postcodes would help a Post Office employee to recognise which bin to sort a letter into, which enabled them to process mail quicker and more efficiently.
By 1965 the process had been perfected, and the original trial, which started in Norwich, was rolled out to the remainder of the country over the following years, costing £24 million, and by 1971 households were informed of their new postcode with franked mail, stating to 'Remember to use the Postcode'.
Each postcode consists of both an 'outward' and an 'inward' part, split into two with a single space separating these two parts.
Although postcodes were originally designed to assist in automating the sorting of mail to areas of the UK, they are also used for many different purposes.
Postcode Formats
| Format | Example | Coverage |
|---|---|---|
| A9 9AA | S1 1AA | B, E, G, L, M, N, S, W postcode areas |
| A99 9AA | M60 1NW | |
| AA9 9AA | CR2 6XH | All postcode areas except B, E, G, L, M, N, S, W, WC |
| AA99 9AA | DN55 1PT | |
| A9A 9AA | W1A 1HQ | E1W, N1C, N1P, W1 postcode districts |
| AA9A 9AA | EC1M 1BB | WC postcode area; EC1-EC4, NW1W, SE1P, SW1 postcode districts |