London
Post town
Postcode areas	E EC N NW SE SW W WC
Area
• Total	620 km2 (241 sq mi)

TheLondon postal district is the area inEngland of 241 square miles (620 km²) to which mail addressed to theLondonpost town is delivered. TheGeneral Post Office under the control of thePostmaster General directedSir Rowland Hill to devise the area in 1856 and throughout its history it has been subject to reorganisation and division into increasingly smaller postal units, with the early loss of twocompass points and a minor retraction in 1866. It was integrated by thePost Office into the nationalpostcode system of the United Kingdom during the early 1970s and corresponds to theE,EC,N,NW,SE,SW,W andWC postcode areas. The postal district has also been known as theLondon postal area. TheCounty of London was much smaller, at 117 square miles (300 km²), butGreater London is much larger at 607 square miles (1,570 km²).

By the 1850s, the rapid growth of the metropolitan area meant it became too large to operate efficiently as a single post town.^[1] A Post Office inquiry into the problem had been set up in 1837 and aHouse of Commons committee was initiated in 1843.^[2] In 1854Charles Canning, thePostmaster General, set up a committee at the Post Office in St. Martin's Le Grand to investigate how London could best be divided for the purposes of directing mail. In 1856, of the 470 million items of mail sent in the United Kingdom during the year, approximately one fifth (100 million) were for delivery in London and half of these (50 million items) also originated there.^[2]

TheGeneral Post Office under the control of thePostmaster General devised the area in 1856.Sir Rowland Hill^[3] produced a roughly circular area of 12 miles (19 km) radius from thecentral post office atSt. Martin's Le Grand in central London.^[3] As originally devised, it extended fromWaltham Cross in the north toCarshalton in the south and fromRomford in the east toSunbury in the west — six counties at the time if including theCity of London.^[2] The postal district was divided into two central areas and eight compass points which operated much like separatepost towns. Each was named "London" with a suffix (EC, WC, N, NE, E, SE, S, SW, W, and NW) indicating the area it covered; each had a separate head office.^[3] The system was introduced during 1857^[1] and completed on 1 January 1858.^[4]

During the 1860s, following an official report byAnthony Trollope, the NE and S divisions were removed from the scheme. In 1866, NE was abolished; large districts transferred to E includedWalthamstow,^[5]Wanstead andLeytonstone.^[6] The eight remaining letter prefixes (excluding all numbers) were not changed.^[7] In 1868 the S district was abolished and split between SE and SW.^[1]

At the same time, the London postal district boundary was retracted in the east, when some Essex areas, including aroundIlford, became part of other postal towns.^[1][8]

The NE and S codes were used for the national postcode system, with theNE postcode area coveringNewcastle upon Tyne, and theS postcode area coveringSheffield.^[7]

In 1917, as a wartime measure to improve efficiency, the districts were further subdivided with a number applied to each sub-district.^[1] This was achieved by designating a sub-area served most conveniently by the head office in each district "1" and then allocating the rest alphabetically by the name of the location of each delivery office.^[1] Exceptionally,W2 andSW11 are also 'head districts'.

The boundaries of each sub-district rarely correspond to any units of civil administration: theparishes and hamlets/chapelries with chapels that traditionally define settlement names everywhere in England and Wales or the generally largerboroughs; despite this, postal sub-districts have developed over time into a primary reference frame. The numbered sub-districts became the "outward code" (first half) of the postcode system as expanded into longer codes during the 1970s.

Ad hoc changes have taken place to the organisation of the districts, such as the creation ofSE28 from existing districts because of the construction of the high-densityThamesmead development.

Owing to heavier demand, seven high-density postcode districts in central London have been subdivided to create new, smaller postcode districts. This is achieved by adding a letter after the original postcode district, for exampleW1P. Where such sub-districts are used elsewhere such as on street signs and maps, the original unsuffixed catch-all versions often remain in use instead. The districts subdivided areE1,N1,EC (EC1, EC2, EC3, EC4),SW1,W1,WC1 and WC2 (each with several subdivisions). Similarly, there are solelynon-geographic suffixed sub-districts for PO boxes inNW1 (e.g. NW1W) andSE1 (e.g. SE1P).

The London postal district has never been aligned with the London boundary. When the initial system was designed, the London boundary was restricted to the square mile of the small, ancientCity of London. The wider metropolitan postal area covered parts ofMiddlesex,Surrey,Kent,Essex andHertfordshire.

In 1889 aCounty of London, which was smaller than the postal district, was created from parts of Middlesex, Surrey and Kent. The bulk of 40 fringe sub-districts (having been numbered in 1917) lay outside its boundary including, for example:Leyton,Ealing,Totteridge andWimbledon

In 1965 the creation ofGreater London boundary went beyond these postal districts except for part of the parish ofWaltham Holy Cross. TheGeneral Post Office was unwilling to follow this change and expand the postal district to match because of the cost.^[9] Places in London's outer boroughs such asHarrow,Barnet,Wembley,Enfield,Ilford,Romford,Bexleyheath,Bromley,Hounslow,Richmond,Croydon,Sutton,Kingston andUxbridge are therefore covered by parts of twelve adjoining postcode areas (EN,IG,RM,DA,BR,TN,CR,SM,KT,TW,HA andUB) from postal districts of 5 differentcounties includingMiddlesex whose county council was abolished upon the creation of the Greater London Council.

Royal Mail has a seemingly settled policy of changing postcodes only if there is an operational advantage to doing so, unlike the postal services of other countries^{[citation needed]}, and so has no plan to change the postcode system to correlate with the Greater London boundary^{[citation needed]}. In 2003 the then Mayor of London expressed support for revision of postal addresses in Greater London.^[10] Similarly, organisations on the fringes of the London postal district have lobbied to be excluded or included in an attempt to decrease their insurance premiums (SE2→DA7) or raise the prestige of their business (IG1-IG6→E19). This is generally futile as Royal Mail changes postcodes only in order to facilitate the delivery of post, and not to illustrate geographical boundaries like the postal services of other countries.^[11]

The London postal district includes all of theCity of London,Camden,Hackney,Hammersmith and Fulham,Haringey,Islington,Kensington and Chelsea,Southwark,Tower Hamlets,Wandsworth andWestminster. Almost entirely included areGreenwich,Lambeth,Lewisham,Newham andWaltham Forest, except for a few streets.Barking and Dagenham,Barnet,Bexley,Brent,Bromley,Croydon,Ealing,Enfield,Harrow,^[12]Hounslow,Kingston upon Thames,Merton,Redbridge, andRichmond upon Thames are partly in the postal district.Havering,Hillingdon andSutton are completely outside the postal district.Sewardstone, in postal district E4 and in theEpping Forest District ofEssex is anomalously the only place to be outside Greater London but in the London postal area.

Under early abandoned price differentials it formed the inner area of theLondon postal region, one now obscure definition ofInner London — the term has however lost economic significance from the consumer viewpoint with the standardisation ofRoyal Mail pricing.^[13]

It is common to use postal sub-districts as placenames in London, particularly in the property market: a property may be described as being "in N11", especially where this can be synonymous with a desirable location but also covers other less prestigious places. Thus sub-districts are a convenient shorthand indicator towards social status,^[14][15] such that a 'desirable' postcode may add significantly to the value of property, and property developers have tried to no avail to haveRoyal Mail alter the boundaries of postal districts so that new developments will sound as though they are in a richer area, whether incapital,personal income or both.

Parliament, which first established the London postal district, then created the narrowerCounty of London (1889–1965) and replaced it with the much largerGreater London. However, there has been very little change in London postal district boundaries. Being in a London postcode inaccurately gives a broad definition ofInner London.^[16]

All London postal districts were traditionally prefixed with thepost town 'LONDON' and full stops were commonly placed after each character, e.g. LONDON S.W.1.Use of the full stops ended with the implementation of the national postcode system^{[citation needed]}. In addition, integration of the London postal districts into postcodes means that, as postcodes should be on a separate address line^[17] (in line with other postcodes in the national system), the postal district should not now appear after 'LONDON' on the same line, but as the first part of the full postcode.

The presentation of the postal districts on street signs in London is commonplace, although not universal as each borough is individually responsible for street signs^{[citation needed]}. Current regulations date from 1952; they were originally for the County of London, but were extended to Greater London in 1965. The section relating to postal districts reads "The appropriate postal district shall be indicated in the nameplate in signal red".^[18]

The area covered is 241 square miles (620 km²).^[13]

TheE,EC,N,NW,SE,SW,W andWC postcode areas (the eight London postal districts) comprise theinner area of the London postal region and correspond to the Londonpost town.

TheBR,CM,CR,DA,EN,HA,IG,SL,TN,KT,RM,SM,TW,UB, andWD (the 15 outer London postcode areas) comprise theouter area of the London postal region.^[21]

The inner and outer areas together comprised theLondon postal region.^[13]

Additional information

• Postcodes, British Postal Museum and Archive

Maps

• Map of London in 1859 with NE and S districts shown
• Map of districts in 1900
• Map of London district names and numbers, from the 1963 edition of Bartholomew's Reference Atlas of

• London-related lists
• Postcodes in the United Kingdom

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