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London SE
Postcode area
SE
Coordinates: 51°27′58″N 0°01′55″W / 51.466°N 0.032°W / 51.466; -0.032
Country	United Kingdom
Postcode area	SE
Postcode area name	London SE
Post towns	1
Postcode districts	30
Postcode sectors	129
Postcodes (live)	20,476
Postcodes (total)	34,165
Statistics as at May 2020

The SE (South Eastern) postcode area covers a broad area of the south-east of the London, England post town from the Albert Embankment to West Heath and the nearest edges of Sidcup and Selhurst. It loosely corresponds to the boroughs of Southwark, Lewisham and Greenwich plus indicated parts of the boroughs of Croydon (north), Lambeth (east), Bexley (west) and Bromley (northwest).

Postal administration

The postcode area originated in 1857 as the SE district. In 1868 it gained some of the area of the short-lived S district, with the rest going to SW. It was divided into numbered districts in 1917, by giving the district closest to London that hosted the head office the suffix "1" and all others alphabetically based on a locally important parish, chapelry, topological or built environment feature administering or close to the local distribution office. SE28 is a late addition carved out of the existing districts SE2 and SE18 to reflect the building up of a new London district in what had been the meadows and marshes by the tidal Thames in the parish of Plumstead: Thamesmead.

Unlike SW, where a consecutive 50%, there ten, districts can more officially be traced into two alphabetical groups excluding SW1, SE has always technically followed the norm in that SE1 is the only head district. However SE19 was drawn up to serve the key distribution office serving Norwood after a complete alphabetical series so that those surrounding it and SE21 (Dulwich): SE20 and SE22 to SE27 are strictly alphabetical afresh (Anerley to West Norwood) but it has never technically been a "head district". The postcode area is part of the London post town. There are no dependent localities used in the postcode area. SE1P is a non-geographic postcode district for PO boxes located in SE1.

List of postcode districts

The approximate coverage of the postcode districts, with the historic postal district names shown in italics:

Boundaries

SE1 has a very long tidal Thames frontage and is in Central London as is SE11, named after Kennington, close to Westminster. SE2–SE18 are spread across the north and east of the postcode area; enquiring into their naming system explains how SE2, SE7, SE8, SE10, SE16 and SE18 also front the river. Postcode districts SE19–SE27 form a group in the southwest. The later addition, SE28, is in the northeast corner of the first group. The postcode area maps roughly to the combined area of the London Borough of Southwark, London Borough of Lewisham and Royal Borough of Greenwich. the eastern part of the London Borough of Lambeth, the northern part of the London Borough of Croydon, the western part of the London Borough of Bexley and the northwestern part of the London Borough of Bromley are within the postcode area.

In 2002, some residents in West Heath, a slight projection with neighbouring areas, wished to have their postcodes changed from SE2 to the adjacent DA7 postcode district, citing higher insurance for their houses, belongings and cars as reasons to change. Royal Mail has said it will not consider changes to postcodes for these reasons.

Map

See also

• Postcode Address File
• List of postcode areas in the United Kingdom
• London postal district

References

1. "ONS Postcode Directory Version Notes" (ZIP). National Statistics Postcode Products. Office for National Statistics. May 2020. Table 2. Retrieved 19 June 2020. Coordinates from mean of unit postcode points, "Code-Point Open". OS OpenData. Ordnance Survey. February 2012. Retrieved 21 April 2012.
2. "Postcodes" (PDF). Archive Information Sheet. The British Postal Museum and Archive. Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 March 2009. Retrieved 24 March 2010.
3. Monopolies and Mergers Commission (1980). The Inner London Letter Post. HMSO. Archived from the original on 19 January 2012.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
4. ^ Royal Mail (2004). Management Guide (4 ed.). Royal Mail Group.
5. "Non Geographic Codes" (PDF). Royal Mail Address Management Unit. July 2012. Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 September 2012. Retrieved 25 September 2012.
6. "Names of Streets and Places in the London Postal area". HMSO. 1930. Archived from the original on 20 October 2004. Retrieved 24 March 2010.
7. "Cracking the codes not easy". This is Local London. 12 March 2002. Archived from the original on 26 May 2008. Retrieved 24 March 2010.

External links

• Royal Mail's Postcode Address File
• A quick introduction to Royal Mail's Postcode Address File (PAF) Archived 26 September 2018 at the Wayback Machine

• "SE1". The Postcodes Project. Museum of London. Archived from the original on 28 July 2013.
• "SE2". The Postcodes Project. Museum of London. Archived from the original on 20 September 2012.
• "SE3". The Postcodes Project. Museum of London. Archived from the original on 20 September 2012.
• "SE4". The Postcodes Project. Museum of London. Archived from the original on 25 June 2013.
• "SE5". The Postcodes Project. Museum of London. Archived from the original on 20 September 2012.
• "SE6". The Postcodes Project. Museum of London. Archived from the original on 20 September 2012.
• "SE7". The Postcodes Project. Museum of London. Archived from the original on 6 July 2013.
• "SE8". The Postcodes Project. Museum of London. Archived from the original on 20 September 2012.
• "SE9". The Postcodes Project. Museum of London. Archived from the original on 20 September 2012.
• "SE10". The Postcodes Project. Museum of London. Archived from the original on 20 September 2012.
• "SE11". The Postcodes Project. Museum of London. Archived from the original on 20 September 2012.
• "SE12". The Postcodes Project. Museum of London. Archived from the original on 19 September 2012.
• "SE13". The Postcodes Project. Museum of London. Archived from the original on 1 April 2013.
• "SE14". The Postcodes Project. Museum of London. Archived from the original on 2 December 2012.
• "SE15". The Postcodes Project. Museum of London. Archived from the original on 2 December 2012.
• "SE16". The Postcodes Project. Museum of London. Archived from the original on 22 September 2012.
• "SE17". The Postcodes Project. Museum of London. Archived from the original on 22 September 2012.
• "SE18". The Postcodes Project. Museum of London. Archived from the original on 22 September 2012.
• "SE19". The Postcodes Project. Museum of London. Archived from the original on 19 September 2012.
• "SE20". The Postcodes Project. Museum of London. Archived from the original on 22 September 2012.
• "SE21". The Postcodes Project. Museum of London. Archived from the original on 27 October 2012.
• "SE22". The Postcodes Project. Museum of London. Archived from the original on 22 September 2012.
• "SE23". The Postcodes Project. Museum of London. Archived from the original on 27 October 2012.
• "SE24". The Postcodes Project. Museum of London. Archived from the original on 22 September 2012.
• "SE25". The Postcodes Project. Museum of London. Archived from the original on 20 September 2012.
• "SE26". The Postcodes Project. Museum of London. Archived from the original on 22 September 2012.
• "SE27". The Postcodes Project. Museum of London. Archived from the original on 7 July 2007.
• "SE28". The Postcodes Project. Museum of London. Archived from the original on 22 September 2012.

• Postcode areas covering London
• Media and communications in the London Borough of Bexley
• Media and communications in the London Borough of Bromley
• Media and communications in the London Borough of Croydon
• Media and communications in the Royal Borough of Greenwich
• Media and communications in the London Borough of Lambeth
• Media and communications in the London Borough of Lewisham
• Media and communications in the London Borough of Southwark