Address formation

[VauxhallandI]

Following on from the Bedford debate it got me thinking about my address and what has become a running joke at work.

I live in Cheshunt, Herts (from the Bedford thread it is considered East of England in all the questionnaires I complete for BA points).

When I complete an online form with my postcode it always completes the form with Waltham Cross between Cheshunt and Herts much to my dismay.

Now I understand the postal depot is in Waltham Cross but what difference should that make. Cheshunt is no suburb of WX?

Previous experience when I lived in Hale I was quite ok with "Hale, Altrincham, Cheshire" as Hale could be considered to be a wee village attached to the town.

Another example was Clarkston, Glasgow which didn't seem to need a middle at all yet surely Glasgow would have a few postal depots?

A truly sad question I know but I would be interested to hear your thoughts all the same.

 

[The Lad]

It comes down to Postal Address, The royal mail website gives guidance on how to address a letter. Quite often in the larger cities eg London and Manchester the address doesn't include an area within the Post Town.

 

[TheNewNo2]

I'm always intrigued that in London, a very big city, addresses almost never use the locality (eg my addressed used to be xx Manchester Road, London, E14), whereas in Bristol or Nottingham, much smaller places, they usually do.

 

[Mojo]

I'm always intrigued that in London, a very big city, addresses almost never use the locality (eg my addressed used to be xx Manchester Road, London, E14), whereas in Bristol or Nottingham, much smaller places, they usually do.

I always find it very quaint when people put their suburb name on a postal address. One job I had once was input of application forms into a computer system and I’d always leave it out when people provided this as it’s a bit unnecessary and makes me cringe a bit.

 

[Shaw S Hunter]

In an age when mail is nearly all sorted automatically by machine reading of postcodes it should be possible to correctly deliver mail that is addressed with nothing more than the postcode and door number. Everything else is superfluous to the automated systems but of course once you get to the level of bundling mail into individual delivery walks having the other information starts to become useful! It's also worth remembering that the same street names may occur several times in a relatively small area thanks to things like local government re-organisations or just the prevalence of names like High Street or Station Road.

 

[takno]

In an age when mail is nearly all sorted automatically by machine reading of postcodes it should be possible to correctly deliver mail that is addressed with nothing more than the postcode and door number. Everything else is superfluous to the automated systems but of course once you get to the level of bundling mail into individual delivery walks having the other information starts to become useful! It's also worth remembering that the same street names may occur several times in a relatively small area thanks to things like local government re-organisations or just the prevalence of names like High Street or Station Road.

https://www.citymetric.com/horizons...-distance-between-two-homes-same-address-3329 would illustrate that nicely...

 

[TheNewNo2]

Takno, that article is brilliant!

 

[A Challenge]

Takno, that article is brilliant!

I have to agree - especially the very end!

 

[D6975]

What a brilliant way to waste a lot of time...
The end is unbelievable.

A search on my own postcode always returns my address as being in Avon, when I'm actually in South Glos.

 

[EM2]

In an age when mail is nearly all sorted automatically by machine reading of postcodes it should be possible to correctly deliver mail that is addressed with nothing more than the postcode and door number.

Good luck round here then. Our building has three flats, and our address is Flat X, Building Name, Y Road, Northfleet, Kent Post Code. But all the houses in Y Road have the same post code, which means that we often get mail for number X, Y Road and they get mail for us, even when the building name is included.
It doesn't help that the building name shares part of its name with Z Road, and is on the corner of Y Road and Z Road!

 

[Lrd]

Good luck round here then. Our building has three flats, and our address is Flat X, Building Name, Y Road, Northfleet, Kent Post Code. But all the houses in Y Road have the same post code, which means that we often get mail for number X, Y Road and they get mail for us, even when the building name is included.
It doesn't help that the building name shares part of its name with Z Road, and is on the corner of Y Road and Z Road!

My address is the same format and no one can ever find where we are even though it's the only block of flats on the road

 

[bussnapperwm]

Whenever I am writing a letter, I use Property Name/Number, Street Name, Post Town, Post Code

my colleagues hate it whenever I am on database cleansing at work because they always put in county name, even though it's obsolete for royal mail systems.

 

[VauxhallandI]

Thinking of another previous address, we used Marlow-on-Thames, Buckinghamshire.

Now Marlow is a small town so surely that would have been a horrendous Marlow-on-Thames, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire.

There would have been a revolt.

I have received a letter at work with just the name of the establishment and my name, I don't think you could get any less than that? No town, street, postcode, county or country

 

[A Challenge]

Was it mailed (so stamped/franked and marked) or just local office mail though, as that would explain it?

 

[VauxhallandI]

It was posted from elsewhere in the UK

 

[Busaholic]

How nice to be the Duke of Wellington, if only so you could inform people that you could be reached at the postal address of No. 1 London: how galling it would have to be to include a postcode!

 

[TheNewNo2]

What a brilliant way to waste a lot of time...
The end is unbelievable.

A search on my own postcode always returns my address as being in Avon, when I'm actually in South Glos.

Avon still exists in some ways, postal codes being one of them. After all, South Gloucestershire was Avon once. Should be again, it made a lot of sense to have Bristol and all its suburbs within the same administrative area.

 

[VauxhallandI]

More like the 13the Earl of Wimborne

 

[Tom B]

As I understand it, the county, post town and area are irrelevant since this information can be gleaned from the postcode. I've had a few letters delivered to me without a post code, which I assume have to be manually sorted - at any rate, they acquire a "USE THE POSTCODE" stamp by the time they get here.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

They'd do better telling the sender rather than the recipient that wouldn't they?

 

[Busaholic]

As I understand it, the county, post town and area are irrelevant since this information can be gleaned from the postcode. I've had a few letters delivered to me without a post code, which I assume have to be manually sorted - at any rate, they acquire a "USE THE POSTCODE" stamp by the time they get here.

I've never seen that stamp, and I've had many, many non-postcode letters to me and my business over the last 30 years!

 

[BluePenguin]

Whenever I am writing a letter, I use Property Name/Number, Street Name, Post Town, Post Code

my colleagues hate it whenever I am on database cleansing at work because they always put in county name, even though it's obsolete for royal mail systems.

Is it? I can't think of anyone I know who doesn't write the county.

 

[BluePenguin]

I always find it very quaint when people put their suburb name on a postal address. One job I had once was input of application forms into a computer system and I’d always leave it out when people provided this as it’s a bit unnecessary and makes me cringe a bit.

Do you really? I am curious to hear your opinion on why you find it quaint and how it makes you cringe.

Most people who live in the suburbs of cities, the same as people who live in towns villages are very proud of where they live and like to show that when people ask them where they live and reflect that when writing out their address. Communities like to acknowledge they exist.

You can't blame them really.

Hayes feels more like a suburb of Heathrow or another Middlesex town as it is very different to London

Swanwick is quiet compared to Southampton despite having air traffic control there

Sturry is nothing like Canterbury despite lots of shops, lots of parking and park and ride

Tile Hill is worlds apart from Birmingham and but still feels connected by its station.

 

[northwichcat]

Previous experience when I lived in Hale I was quite ok with "Hale, Altrincham, Cheshire" as Hale could be considered to be a wee village attached to the town.

In that case Hale, Altrincham, Greater Manchester or Hale, Altrincham, Trafford would be incorrect as neither Greater Manchester or Trafford are considered postal counties. However, the current Royal Mail recommendation is you don't include any county and the postal town should be in capitals so following the recommendation it would be Hale, ALTRINCHAM and then the postcode.

Not all online forms are correct. I've found forms where I've had to select 'East Cheshire' or 'Cheshire East' as the county - Cheshire East is a unitary authority in the county of Cheshire not a county.

 

[Abpj17]

Is it? I can't think of anyone I know who doesn't write the county.

County is a bit pointless for the major cities and towns - particularly those that are unitary authorities. For example, Luton is pretty much disowned by the rest of the county from many perspectives.

 

[Lrd]

Hayes feels more like a suburb of Heathrow or another Middlesex town as it is very different to London

Middlesex doesn't exist and hasn't done for ages.

Hayes is in the London borough of Hillingdon

 

[alxndr]

Growing up I always needed to write:

House name
Street
Village
Postal Town
Postcode

Now that I've lived in a town for nearly four years that's been cut down to just three lines, and I still can't quite get used to it:

House number and street
(Postal) town
Postcode

Note that I don't use counties, as Royal Mail advise that they don't require it. If writing a return address I just write number and postcode, sometimes also including street name abbreviation. Never had post returned to sender, but the post office have always been satisified by it when they've checked I've included one. My grandfather religiously did the same, although most of my letters ended up via London due to the wrong postcode.

What did confuse me about one of my previous addresses was that no one could quite agree on what to call the road. We knew it as one thing, the council knew it as another, and occasionally it would pop up as a third variation. Any of them would get to us though, even a letter with an incredibly butchered address that consisted of a misspelling of my surname, house name, road, no village, mispelt postal town. Not sure if the postcode was present or correct.

 

[Bletchleyite]

In reality a letter addressed with house name/number and postcode will arrive. The street name and post town are essentially a checksum (and quite a useful one; a parcel I collected yesterday had been logged wrongly and without the additional information it may have been lost).

 

[headshot119]

Is it? I can't think of anyone I know who doesn't write the county.

I certainly don't for posting things to Wrexham, or you end up writing it twice.

 

[BluePenguin]

Middlesex doesn't exist and hasn't done for ages.

Hayes is in the London borough of Hillingdon

Ahh I was waiting for someone to pick up on this lol. Try explaining that to my friend and some of the people who live there who disagree with you. Interestingly, Heathrow Airport still also maintain that Middlesex exists as on their website they have written their address as Hounslow, Middlesex.