50°57′32″N 1°21′54″W / 50.959°N 1.365°W
Southampton | |
|---|---|
  SO | |
| Coordinates: 50°56′17″N 1°23′20″W / 50.938°N 1.389°W | |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Postcode area | SO |
| Postcode area name | Southampton |
| Post towns | 9 |
| Postcode districts | 30 |
| Postcode sectors | 179 |
| Postcodes (live) | 18,298 |
| Postcodes (total) | 40,011 |
| Statistics as at May 2020[1] | |
The SO postcode area, also known as the Southampton postcode area[2], is a group of postal districts around Alresford, Brockenhurst, Eastleigh, Lymington, Lyndhurst, Romsey, Southampton, Stockbridge and Winchester in England.
In the early 1990s Royal Mail realised there was a shortage of available postcodes in the SO postcode area.[3] The population was continuing to grow and new developments in some districts (mainly the city itself) were having to be issued with odd 'SO9' postcodes as there were no alternative combinations remaining. On 1st December 1993 the existing SO1-SO5 and SO9 postal districts for the entire region were replaced with subdivisions which contained four digits. This created thousands more possible combinations, however it also resulted in an unusual situation which left the centre of the postcode area, Southampton City Centre, without a traditional '1' numbered postcode. Southampton is one of only a handful of areas in the country where this is the case.
Coverage
editThe approximate coverage of the postal districts:
Adjacent areas
edit
Clockwise from the east, the adjacent postcode areas are: PO (Portsmouth), BH (Bournemouth), SP (Salisbury), RG (Reading), GU (Guildford).
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ "ONS Postcode Directory Version Notes" (ZIP). National Statistics Postcode Products. Office for National Statistics. May 2020. Table 2. Retrieved 19 Jun 2020. Coordinates from mean of unit postcode points, "Code-Point Open". OS OpenData. Ordnance Survey. February 2012. Retrieved 21 April 2012.
- ^ Royal Mail, Address Management Guide, (2004)
- ^ http://www2.geog.soton.ac.uk/geo-refer/go1_050_c15p00000000snsw.html
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