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The UK’s most desirable postcodes

The UK’s most desirable postcodes

Royal Mail: these postcodes are the best places to live

MattBrady

Mortgages and Home

MattBrady
Updated on 26 August 2014

Royal Mail has commissioned research to find out which postcodes in England, Scotland and Wales are the best. If you’re reading this from SP9, G44 or LL78 – congratulations, you made the top spots.

The Centre for Economic and Business Research (Cebr) conducted the analysis, reviewing statistics such as the availability of jobs, quality of education and healthcare, and the affordability of housing.

England

In England, SP9 beat its competitors to the number one spot. This postcode is allocated to Tidworth, Wiltshire. It’s a small town located around a half hour drive from the city of Salisbury, and a five minute drive to the edge of the West Essex Downs, officially an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

Cumbria took three positions in the top ten, while Hampshire has two.

The top ten most desirable postcodes in England were found to be:

Position

Postcode

Location

1

SP9

Tidworth, Wiltshire

2

GU46

Yately, Hampshire

3

CA27

St Bees, Cumbria

4

CW10

Middlewich, Cheshire

5

RG6

Earley, Berkshire

6

GU52

Church Crookham, Hampshire

7

MK8

Northwest Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire

8

CA20

Gosforth/Seascale, Cumbria

9

DE3

Mickleover, Derbyshire

10

CA24

Moor Row, Cumbria

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Scotland

G44, the south side of Glasgow, is the most desirable postcode sector to live in Scotland, according to the analysis. The five top postcodes here are as follows:

Position

Postcode

Location

1

G44

South Glasgow

2

PA8

Erskine, Renfrewshire

3

KA30

Largs, Ayrshire

4

FK11

Menstrie, Clackmannanshire

5

PA46

Post Askaig, Isle of Islay

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Wales

Brynteg, situated on the Isle of Anglesey, secured the number one spot within Wales. It’s a popular tourist spot, half an hour away from the edge of Snowdonia National Park.

Position

Postcode

Location

1

LL78

Brynteg, Isle of Anglesey

2

CF61

Llantwit Major, Vale of Glamorgan

3

SY18

Llanidloes, Powys

4

NP26

Caldicot, Monmouthshire

5

SA4

North West Swansea, West Glamorgan

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Postcodes

The first postcodes were trialled in Norwich in 1959, and in 1966, an eight-year programme to postcode the whole country was initiated. This was completed in 1974, with the recoding of Norwich.

There are now roughly 1.8 million postcodes in use across the UK, and on average, each code covers 17 residential addresses. Steve Rooney, Head of Royal Mail’s Address Management Unit, said that the study was commissioned to “mark the 40th anniversary of the allocation of postcodes to every address in Britain”.

“The postcode is now used by businesses and individuals in their everyday activities, whether that is verifying a person’s address when making a transaction or planning a route on a SatNav system.”

Do you live in one of the 'top' postcodes? Are these postcodes really that attractive? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

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