WC postcode area

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London WC postcode area
WC
Postcode area	WC
Postcode area name	London WC
Post towns	1
Postcode districts	15
Postcode sectors	46
Postcodes (live)	3,005
Postcodes (total)	7,279
Statistics as at February 2012[1]

The WC (Western Central) postcode area, also known as the London WC postcode area,^[2] is a group of postcode districts in central London, England. It includes parts of the London Borough of Camden, City of Westminster, London Borough of Islington and a very small part of the City of London. The area covered is of very high density development. The current postcode districts are relatively recent: divisions WC1 and WC2 districts established only in 1917. Where the districts are used for purposes other than the sorting of mail, such as use as a geographic reference and on street signs, they continue to be commonly grouped into these two 'districts'.

Postal administration

Both the WC1 and WC2 postcode districts are part of the London post town.^[2] There are no dependent localities used in the postcode districts.^[2] The numbered districts were created in 1917. Before then it they had been included in the WC postal district. There has been no significant recoding of the postcode area from 1990 to 2007.^[3][4] There are Post Office branches in the WC1 postcode district at Grays Inn, High Holborn, Marchmont Street and Russell Square; and in the WC2 postcode district at Aldwych and Trafalgar Square.^[5] The Western Central District Office was located on New Oxford Street, which was a stop on the London Post Office Railway. Deliveries for WC1 and WC2 now come from Mount Pleasant Mail Centre in Farringdon Road.

List of postcode districts

The postcode districts are, with approximate coverage:

Postcode district	Post town	Coverage	Local authority area
WC1A	LONDON	New Oxford Street	Camden
WC1B	LONDON	Bloomsbury, British Museum, Southampton Row	Camden
WC1E	LONDON	University College London	Camden
WC1H	LONDON	St Pancras	Camden
WC1N	LONDON	Russell Square, Great Ormond Street	Camden
WC1R	LONDON	Gray's Inn	Camden
WC1V	LONDON	High Holborn	Camden, City of London
WC1X	LONDON	Kings Cross, Finsbury (west), Clerkenwell (north)	Camden, Islington
WC2A	LONDON	Lincoln's Inn Fields, Royal Courts of Justice, Chancery Lane	Camden, Westminster, City of London
WC2B	LONDON	Drury Lane, Kingsway, Aldwych	Camden, Westminster
WC2E	LONDON	Covent Garden	Westminster
WC2H	LONDON	Leicester Square, St. Giles	Camden, Westminster
WC2N	LONDON	Charing Cross	Westminster
WC2R	LONDON	Somerset House, Temple (west)	Westminster

Boundaries

WC1

The WC1 postcode district (51°30′50″N 0°07′12″W / 51.514°N 0.120°W) is roughly bounded by Amwell Street, Rosebery Avenue and Gray's Inn Road to the east; New Oxford Street and High Holborn to the south (the boundary with WC2); Tottenham Court Road to the west; and Euston Road and Pentonville Road to the north, and approximately corresponds to the modern district of Bloomsbury, with parts of Holborn, King's Cross and St Pancras.^[6] It includes Russell Square, Tavistock Square and Coram's Fields. It is mostly within the London Borough of Camden, although a small part towards the east is within the London Borough of Islington. It includes the British Museum and buildings owned by the federal University of London and its constituent colleges and institutes.

WC2

The WC2 postcode district (51°30′50″N 0°07′26″W / 51.514°N 0.124°W) is roughly bounded by Chancery Lane and Essex Street to the east, High Holborn and New Oxford Street to the north (the boundary with WC1), Wardour Street and Witcomb Street to the west and Northumberland Avenue and the River Thames to the south. It includes Leicester Square, Trafalgar Square and the Aldwych.^[7] It corresponds roughly to the former district of Strand. It is mostly within the City of Westminster with the northern section in the London Borough of Camden and some small areas in the east in the City of London. It includes Somerset House, colleges of the University of London like King's College London (Strand campus), and the National Portrait Gallery.

Map

WC postcode area map, showing postcode districts in red and post towns in grey text, with links to nearby EC, N, NW, SE, SW and W postcode areas.

See also

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

References

1. "ONS Postcode Directory Version Notes" (ZIP). National Statistics Postcode Products. Office for National Statistics. February 2012. Table 2. Retrieved 21 April 2012. Coordinates from mean of unit postcode points, "Code-Point Open". OS OpenData. Ordnance Survey. February 2012. Retrieved 21 April 2012.
2. Royal Mail (2004). Address Management Guide (4 ed.). Royal Mail Group.
3. Royal Mail Address Management Unit (12 September 2006). "Royal Mail major recode historical information - 1990 to 1999" (DOC). Royal Mail Group. Retrieved 1 April 2010.
4. Royal Mail Address Management Unit (18 April 2007). "Royal Mail major recode historical information – 2000 to March 2007" (PDF). Royal Mail Group. Retrieved 1 April 2010.
5. Post Office -
6. "WC1". The Postcodes Project. Museum of London. Retrieved 23 March 2010.
7. "WC2". The Postcodes Project. Museum of London. Retrieved 23 March 2010.

External Links

• Royal Mail's Postcode Address File
• A quick introduction to Royal Mail's Postcode Address File (PAF)