Postcodes

securespark

securespark

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OK, maybe I'm a bit sad, but I've just been reading up on the history of postcodes.

The GPO selected Norwich as the guinea pig town to test out the first full postcode system which originally began with three letters: NOR.

Croydon was the second, given the designation CRO and when the system evolved to the one we know today, the letter O was replaced with a zero.

Always wondered why Croydon does not have a CR1 code.

Bristol is unique in having both BS0 and BS10 codes.

Some well-known institutions have name related postcodes.

Guess which company or organisation has these addresses:

DH98 1BT

BX4 7SB

DE99 3GG

W1N 4DJ (Be afraid!)

and my personal favourite:

S14 7UP

While we are on Sheffield, can anyone tell me the name of the road where South Yorkshire Police's operations centre resides?

(Don't cheat with the internet!)

Not used for postal reasons, the NHS uses a system where a patient's exact address is unknown:

  • ZZ99 3CZ = England (not otherwise stated)
  • ZZ99 3VZ = No fixed abode
  • ZZ99 3WZ = Address not known
  • ZZ99 2WZ = Northern Ireland (not otherwise stated)
  • ZZ99 1WZ = Scotland (not otherwise stated)
  • ZZ99 3GZ = Wales (not otherwise stated)
  • ZZ99 NNN = normally resident overseas (where NNN is the country code listed in the NHS postcode directory)
 
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Windsor shares the SL prefix with Slough. Residents have campaigned for their own prefix such as WI. By the way the Queen Mum was cremated in Slough, they say she burned brightly thanks to all the gin inside her.
 
No idea about Germany, but as far as Britain (or any other country for that matter) is concerned, it depends how basic you want to go with saying it was the origins of a postal code. London, I believe, had numbered districts in the 19th century, which developed into the familiar N.1, S.W. 1, E.C. 2 etc. somewhere around the time of the First World War. Other major cities soon followed with numbered districts: Bristol 2, Liverpool 5, etc. These were generally adopted into the postcode system: N1 xxx, BS2 xxx, L5 xxx, etc.

The two-section postcode was developed with the first part forming the outward code, used for collected mail to get it to the correct postal hub around the country, the second part being the inward code used by those receiving hubs to distribute out to local post offices for delivery and for the latter to sort by delivery route.

securespark said:
Some well-known institutions have name related postcodes.
Click to expand...
There was the special code GIR 0AA for Girobank, until its demise a few years ago (that's three letters at the beginning, not G, figure 1, R).
 
Thought it was WM, for Windsor & Maidenhead.

GIR 0AA no longer exists in Royal Mail's system.

However, it is still used by Santander.

How, I'm not sure, if RM no longer list it.
 
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That was the postcode for Lime Grove. They mentioned BBC TVC in the address but it was actually Lime Grove where the letter ended up.
 
That was the number for Swap Shop (though not the original number, that was 288-8055) and Saturday Superstore.

They used the number for other programmes too.
 
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