Which London postcode area has the most stations? Which London postcode district has the most stations? Which London postcode districts have no stations?
These are questions requiring a lot of spreadsheet bashing, but thankfully I have one listing the locations of every station in London including their postcodes so I can find an answer.
I'm also going to vary the definition of station, starting with tube stations only, then adding DLR, Overground etc, and working up to all stations including National Rail.
For clarity, Greater London has over 20 postcode areas, the most central of which are E, N, NW, SE, SW, W, EC and WC. It has over 200 postcode districts, for example E3, N22, TW14 and UB10.
n.b. Official postcodes are sometimes a bit brutal, for example North Acton station lies precisely on the boundary between NW10 and W3 but officially its postcode is W3 6UP so NW scores nothing.
Before we start I invite you to guess which postcode area and which postcode district will come out on top. Estate agents may be particularly interested in the results.
Which London postcode area has the most tube stations?
You probably know from the (old school) tube map that tube stations are particularly concentrated in north, west and central London, with rather fewer to the east and not many south of the Thames. This is reflected in the postcode area spread which is a runaway victory for W.
W
NW
HA
SW
N
E
EC
SE
IG
TW
49
34
30
29
25
21
13
13
11
11
W scores highly by including a lot of the western half of the Circle line and a wedge out to Acton and Ealing. NW takes second place, sweeping as it does from Euston up the Edgware Road. The big surprise in third place is HA (for Harrow), because that's how powerful Metro-land was in shaping the tube network. SW is close behind (and will overtake HA later this year when the Northern line extension opens). The eastern half of the capital doesn't get a look in until E in sixth place. Two other strongly performing outer London postcode areas are IG (thanks to the Hainault Loop) and TW (mostly Hounslow and Heathrow).
Which London postcode district has the most tube stations?
That'd be NW1 with 9 stations (including Marylebone, Warren Street and Camden Town). The more-central W1 takes second place with 8 stations, then there's a tie on 6 stations for SE1, SW1, W2, WC2, W12 and NW10.
Let's see what happens if we add the DLR...
Which London postcode area has the most tube & DLR stations? Which London postcode district has the most tube & DLR stations?
The DLR provides a massive boost for East London, with E leaping from sixth to first place. Not much else changes because the DLR is a very E-based network.
E
W
NW
HA
SW
N
SE
EC
IG
TW
54
49
34
30
29
25
18
14
11
11
We also have a new top postcode district which is E14. This scores a massive 14 thanks to the closely-packed DLR stations around Canary Wharf and the Isle of Dogs. Second place now goes to E16 with 10 stations along the Royal Docks. Both E14 and E16 have only one tube station, the remainder is all thanks to the DLR.
Now let's add all the other TfL stations, specifically Overground and TfL Rail...
Which London postcode area has the most TfL stations? Which London postcode district has the most TfL stations?
Including the Overground makes a big difference to certain postcode areas, especially in a loop around central London.
E
W
NW
N
SE
SW
HA
EC
IG
RM
80
52
44
38
34
34
32
14
14
12
Station totals for N, NW and SE all increase by at least 10. But the biggest beneficiary is again E which adds an extra 26 stations... from Wapping to Dalston, Hackney to Chingford and a lot of the Goblin, not to mention a bit of Crossrail. In terms of TfL stations the E postcode area is unbeatable.
Ditto there's no change in the best served postcode district - still E14 followed by E16 followed by NW1 - because the additional Overground and TfL Rail stations are pretty well spread out.
But add trams...
Which London postcode area has the most TfL stops and stations? Which London postcode district has the most TfL stops and stations?
Technically tram stops aren't stations which is why I haven't included them before. But the vast majority of them are in Croydon, which kicks CR into the top 10 for the first time. SE is creeping up - it was 7th in my first table and now it's 4th. Still nothing dislodges E, though.
E
W
NW
SE
N
SW
HA
CR
EC
IG
80
52
44
40
38
37
32
26
14
14
The tram network might look large but it serves only five postcode districts, that's BR3, CR0, CR4, SE25 and SW19. More than half of London's tram stops are in central Croydon, that's 23 in total, which means CR0 easily leapfrogs E14 to become the postcode district appearing most often on the tube map.
Finally let's add National Rail (and take out the trams) to ask the definitive question...
Which London postcode area has the most stations? Which London postcode district has the most stations?
There are a heck of a lot of non-TfL stations across South London, most notably in SE which has more than 30. Other postcode areas with more than 10 National-Rail-only stations include SW, BR, KT, TW, N and SM. It's enough to nudge Twickenham and Bromley into the Top 10.
E
SE
W
SW
N
NW
HA
TW
BR
EC
81
69
55
52
51
48
35
25
21
16
The relentless rise of SE continues - it turns out to be the second best served postcode area by train. But nothing can beat E which retains pole position. It may only have one National-Rail-only station, which is Lea Bridge, but it has so many DLR and Overground stations that its lead is untouchable.
In my first table, looking only at tube stations, the eastern half of London didn't get a look in. But now we've considered all kinds of trains to all kinds of stations it turns out the top two best-connected postcode areas are both to the east.
Also E14 remains the postcode district with the most stations. Even with National Rail thrown in, the only postcode districts to reach double figures are still NW1 (11) and E16 (10).
Which just leaves my last question...
Which London postcode districts have no stations?
I'm ignoring postcode districts on the edge of the capital that do have a station but it's outside London. I'm also ignoring postcode districts with a station on their boundary but allocated to somewhere else (for example E20 which includes an exit from Stratford station even though its official postcode is E15 1AZ).
In which case these are the London postcode districts unserved by rail...
» N10: Muswell Hill (too hilly, but nearly includes Highgate)
» SE28: Thamesmead (never reached by any project)
» DA6: Bexleyheath (Bexleyheath station is in DA7)
» IG5: Clayhall (in the middle of the Hainault Loop)
» RM4/RM5: Havering-atte-Bower/Collier Row (wholly isolated)
» RM7: Rush Green (an annoyingly big gap between TfL Rail stations)
» TN16: Biggin Hill (not even a tram)
» TW4/TW5: Heston/Hounslow West (the Piccadilly line just misses)
» TW10: Richmond Park (obviously)
» UB4: Yeading (a long way from Hayes & Harlington)
» UB11: Stockley Park (but this is a teensy new district)
If you want to be better connected, E and specifically E14 are where it's at.
