User:Richardguk/SO postcode area

The SO postcode area, also known as the Southampton postcode area, 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. 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
The approximate coverage of the postal districts:



Adjacent areas
Clockwise from the east, the adjacent postcode areas are: PO (Portsmouth), BH (Bournemouth), SP (Salisbury), RG (Reading), GU (Guildford).