Coordinates: 53°41′06″N 1°29′49″W / 53.685°N 1.497°W / 53.685; -1.497

Wakefield postcode area
WF
Postcode area	WF
Postcode area name	Wakefield
Post towns	11
Postcode districts	18
Postcode sectors	75
Postcodes (live)	13,990
Postcodes (total)	17,332
Statistics as at February 2012[1]

The WF postcode area, also known as the Wakefield postcode area^[2], is a group of postcode districts around Batley, Castleford, Dewsbury, Heckmondwike, Knottingley, Liversedge, Mirfield, Normanton, Ossett, Horbury, Pontefract and Wakefield in England.

Coverage[link]

The approximate coverage of the postcode districts:

Adjacent areas[link]

Adjacent postcode areas
BD	LS	YO
HD	WF
	S	DN

Clockwise from the east, the adjacent postcode areas are: , DN (Doncaster), S (Sheffield), HD (Huddersfield), BD (Bradford), LS (Leeds), YO (York).

See also[link]

• List of postcode areas in the United Kingdom

References[link]

For the purposes of directing mail, the United Kingdom is divided by Royal Mail into postcode areas. The postcode area is the largest geographical unit used and forms the initial characters of the alphanumeric UK postcode.^[1] There are currently 121 postal areas in use in the UK and a further 3 often combined with these covering the Crown Dependencies of Guernsey, Jersey and Isle of Man.

Subdivision[link]

Each postcode area is further divided into post towns and postcode districts.^[1] There are on average 20 postcode districts to a postcode area.^[1] The London post town is instead divided into several postcode areas.^[2]

Scope[link]

The single or pair of letters chosen for postcode areas are generally intended as a mnemonic for the places served.^[1] Postcode areas, post towns and postcode districts do not follow political boundaries and usually serve much larger areas than the placenames with which they are associated. For example, within the PA postcode area the PA1 and PA78 postcode districts are 140 miles apart; and the eight postcode areas of the London post town cover only 40% of Greater London.^[2] The remainder of its area is covered by sections of twelve adjoining postcode areas: EN, IG, RM, DA, BR, TN, CR, SM, KT, TW, HA and UB.^[2]

United Kingdom postcode areas[link]

Map of postcode areas in the United Kingdom and Crown Dependencies

Crown dependencies[link]

The Crown dependencies (which are not part of the United Kingdom) did not introduce postcodes until later, but use a similar coding scheme. They are separate postal authorities.^[1]

Defunct postcode areas[link]

London NE and S[link]

Glasgow[link]

Glasgow, like London, was divided into compass districts: C, W, NW, N, E, SE, S, SW. When postcodes were introduced, these were mapped into the new G postcode: C1 became G1, W1 became G11, N1 became G21, E1 became G31, S1 became G41, SW1 became G51, and so on. As NW and SE had never been subdivided they became G20 and G40 respectively.

Dublin[link]

Dublin was split into Dublin postal districts by the Post Office in 1917 at the same time as other major cities in the UK like Liverpool and Manchester. After the creation of the Irish Free State (later the Republic of Ireland) the Irish government did not adopt postcodes; however, the Dublin postal districts remain to this day and the correct form of address is Dublin 7, etc. The postcode area D has not been re-used within the UK.

Norwich and Croydon[link]

Norwich and Croydon were used for a postcode experiment in the late 1960s, which was replaced by the current system. The format was of the form NOR or CRO followed by two numbers and a letter, e.g. NOR 07A.

Non-geographic postcodes[link]

GIR 0AA is a postcode created for Girobank Bootle that does not use an ordinary postcode area.

Additionally the non-geographic postcode area BX has been introduced for addresses which do not include a locality, this allows large organisations long-term flexibility as to where they receive their mail. This postcode area is used by Lloyds TSB (BX1 1LT) and the VAT Central Unit of HM Revenue and Customs (BX5 5AT).

References[link]

External links[link]

• Free interactive Postcode Area map using Google maps
• List of postcodes with lat/long information as eastings and northings, downloadable free of charge from Ordnance Survey OpenData, file Code-Point Open
• Office for National Statistics - Postal geography
• OpenStreetMap - Postcode map
• Strowger net: postcodes of the UK
• Business Lists UK postcode map
• Natural History Museum - maps of UK postcode areas
• Strange Maps - Frank Jacobs - Diagrammatic Map -[1]