Postcode area NW Post towns 1 Postcode sectors 81 | Postcode area name London NW Postcode districts 13 Postcodes (live) 14,037 | |
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Nw postcode area
The NW (North Western) postcode area, also known as the London NW postcode area, is a group of postcode districts covering part of northwest London, England. It is the successor of the NW sector, originally created as part of the London postal district in 1856.
Contents
Postal administration
The London postal arrangements were refined in 1917 when the sub-districts (as appended to postal addresses) were given new alpha-numeric identities for public use; the districts usually cover a wider area than their names might suggest. The district names are no longer included in the postal address because the first part of the postcode contains equivalent sorting information.
Within each NW postcode district, PO boxes are allocated to a unique postcode sector, except for two districts which use all available sectors for ordinary addresses and therefore have their separate non-geographic districts: NW1W for PO boxes in NW1 and NW26 for PO boxes in NW10.
List of postcode districts
The approximate coverage of the postcode districts, with the historic postal district names shown in italics:
Boundaries
Postcode district NW1 is central to London, with the NW2–11 postcode districts radiating outwards to the northwest. The boundaries of the area and its numbered districts have changed over time and are the result of the working requirements of Royal Mail. They are not tied to those of the local authority areas served; consequently a locality name might describe varying areas. The postcode area contains large parts of the London Borough of Barnet, London Borough of Brent and London Borough of Camden with small parts of the City of Westminster, the London Borough of Ealing, London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, London Borough of Harrow, London Borough of Islington and Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. The NW7 district extends to the Greater London boundary with Hertfordshire and follows that boundary for a short distance near Scratch Wood.
Map
The remainder of northwest Greater London is covered by the HA, UB, part of the EN and a small section of WD postcode areas.