United Kingdom
How to Write a UK Address Correctly
Line order for UK addresses: name, building, street, post town and postcode, with conventions for flats, house names and a formatted example.
Updated 14 October 2026 · 3 min read
A UK address is written top to bottom from the most specific detail to the most general, and the postcode closes the address. The country appears last only for international mail.
The standard order
- Recipient name, or company name.
- Flat, unit or building name, if there is one.
- House number and street name.
- Locality, only if needed to distinguish similar street names.
- Post town.
- Postcode.
- Country, for items sent from abroad.
The post town is the town the postal operator uses for sorting, which is not always the name locals use for the area. It is traditionally written in capital letters, although this is a convention rather than a requirement.
Building and unit conventions
House numbers precede the street name. Many older or rural properties have a name instead of a number, for example Rose Cottage, and the name stands on the line above the street. Flats are usually written as Flat 3 on a separate line, or as a number and a letter such as 3B, before the building and street. Where a building has a name, the flat goes first, then the building name, then the street.
Care is needed with odd numbering. Some streets have no number 13, some have letters after the number, and some houses have no number at all. In those cases the name plus postcode identifies the property.
Language
Addresses are written in English, but Wales uses Welsh place and street names, and signs are often bilingual. Both the Welsh and English forms of a place can appear. Scotland has Gaelic names in some areas. Copy the name exactly as shown on the property or in a trusted source.
A formatted example
The following uses placeholder values:
Alex Example
Flat 2, Sample House
10 Example Street
Sampletown
AB1 2EF
United Kingdom
Tips for forms and shops
- Provide separate fields for flat or building name and for the street line.
- Do not force a house number if the property is named.
- Let the postcode be entered with or without the space and normalise it afterwards.
A UPCS code such as GB-XXXX-XXXX (placeholder) can be an extra optional field for the exact entrance. It is never a substitute for the lines above. For the code itself see UK postcode format explained or return to the UK overview.
Frequently asked questions
Should the county be included in a UK address?
It is generally optional. The post town and postcode are what the postal system uses for routing, and many addresses are written without a county.
Where does the house number go?
Before the street name on the same line, for example 12 Example Street.