please empty your brain below
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Doing a bit of investigation into Fringe Area Register Translators will help.
izzit | 29.07.25 - 8:20 a.m. | #
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Why do I have a sneaking suspicion that there is more to follow on this subject?
Southern Heights (Light Railway) | 29.07.25 - 8:27 a.m. | #
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Nice work!
JP | 29.07.25 - 8:39 a.m. | #
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In the late 1990s I worked for a company based in Freezywater on the Hertford Road. I was surprised to discover they had a 01992 phone number despite being a mile or so within the Greater London boundary.
The Turkey Brook seemed to be the 'border'between 01992 and 0208 (or back then 0181)
Hadders | 29.07.25 - 8:43 a.m. | #
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I was disappointed to discover that The Fox is indeed within the London Boundary (yes, I checked). I always thought when drinking or eating there I had got away from London - albeit by a short distance. Visiting The Fox is never going to be quite the same again.
Pedantic of Purley | 29.07.25 - 8:48 a.m. | #
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I've long accepted that there are different 'Londons' for different purposes, and many of these use different boundaries. Until today's post I'd not appreciated just how many non-020 phone codes breach the Greater London boundary.
Another curiosity is thinking of the M25 as a London boundary, yet roughly 40% of the area within the M25 is not within Greater London (and a little bit of London is outside the M25 too).
Alan S | 29.07.25 - 9:05 a.m. | #
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connolleymetals.co.uk are based in Havering and have a 020 number. A few others down that end of the borough do as well.
Huw | 29.07.25 - 9:07 a.m. | #
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Connolley Metals probably have a virtual London number. Anybody can have one to seem to be in London which is of course an honour. Probably pay a few bob though.
izzit | 29.07.25 - 9:28 a.m. | #
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Growing up in Bromley, I can remember looking through the local phone book in the 80s and being confused by all the numbers starting Lodge Hill, which was something of an obscure reference to it being New Addington.
I never understood why the 01689 code ended up being used there as it was somewhat geographically distant from Orpington.
B2024 | 29.07.25 - 9:37 a.m. | #
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I've checked several businesses on the Fairview Industrial Park in Rainham and most have 01708 phone numbers. Those with 020 numbers may have paid for them. Connolley's is 0203, so quite recent. The whole area was undeveloped marshland 50 years ago.
However the phone number for the business campus at CEME is 020 8596 5400, and 020 8596 is definitely a Dagenham number. CEME might have Havering's only genuine geographical 020.
diamond geezer | Homepage | 29.07.25 - 10:04 a.m. | #
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0203 and 0204 numbers are now sold by commercial resellers using Voice over Internet Protocol (VOIP), I think. So while many of those numbers are used by people, businesses and government departments that may be based in London, others are bought by users who can be anywhere in the world. Inevitably, some are used by spammers and scammers who want to appear to be UK based.
Greg | 29.07.25 - 10:05 a.m. | #
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Back in the 1970s, some areas just outside the then 01- area had local dialling codes from within London rather than needing to use the full STD code that you would dial from further afield. I recall Denham being 332, and wonder if it was preparation for a never-implemented expansion of the 01-area.
Andrew S | 29.07.25 - 10:31 a.m. | #
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01708 is available outside London in Purfleet.
0708 and 0402 were amalgamated under 01708 on Phone Day.
grumpmunter | 29.07.25 - 10:37 a.m. | #
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"I don't believe anyone else has ever made a definitive list before."
I am sure you are right.
David B | 29.07.25 - 10:42 a.m. | #
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On the opposite side of things, due to the internal telephone exchanges on London Underground, the stations all have 020 7 dialling codes - including the far outreaches of Amersham, Chesham, Watford and Epping. Something I always thought to be strange but at the same time, understandable.
Rob Healy | 29.07.25 - 11:28 a.m. | #
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That no such list previously existed makes me reconsider the theory of equilibrium between Supply and Demand.
Frank F | 29.07.25 - 12:25 p.m. | #
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You've put Brentwood as in 01227 (Canterbury)
dg writes: tweaked, thanks.
anon | 29.07.25 - 2:29 p.m. | #
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Andrew S - In the 60s the local dialling area was larger than the 'Director System' (where the code was the first three letters of the exchange name, e.g. WHItehall, MAYfair etc). To dial out to these Fringe exchanges from the Director area needed a code, typically two letters and a number, e.g. EP5 for Epping, DE2 for Denham.
These fringe codes survived in parallel with STD, being phased out in the 80s to allow more numbers in the Director Area. The 01883 STD code derived from 0XT3 (Oxted) and the 01959 code from 0WK9 (West Kent).
Gerry | 29.07.25 - 5:06 p.m. | #
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I'm in the small western 01895 section but very close to 01753/020/and 01923 areas.
Anyoldname | 29.07.25 - 7:31 p.m. | #
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Those in search of BT call area nostalgia might appreciate this scan of a 1982 London Telephone dialling codes booklet.
diamond geezer | Homepage | 29.07.25 - 11:02 p.m. | #
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There used to be several premises with 020 8XXX along Crow Lane in Romford, but definitely most of the numbers along there, certainly the residential ones, are 01708 these days. As per the map, most of Rush Green, even the part in Barking & Dagenham, is 01708, but there are 020 8XXX exceptions, including B&D College, which used to have a Romford 01708 number back in the days when it was just "Barking College". The West Ham training complex in Rush Green, on the Havering side (once the home of Ford United) has an 020 8548 number, but most of those seem to relate to the club's former neck of the woods in E6/E12/E13 so maybe there is some call relay thing going on - I don't think that's a Stratford number, at any rate, but others will know better. The residential home to the west of the WHU training complex is an 01708, while the ATC building immediately next door to that (but in Barking & Dagenham) is an 020. So they certainly tried to keep codes to borough boundaries for the most part.
Mark | 29.07.25 - 11:18 p.m. | #
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London Transport had 918 exchange exclusively to itself.
scrumpy | 30.07.25 - 4:05 a.m. | #
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Oh for the days when the London telephone area was defined by the four telephone directories, A-D, E-K, L-R, and S-Z.
Kenneth Morton | 30.07.25 - 9:41 a.m. | #
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You're taking a risk. In the 1960's somebody derived the structure of the telephone trunk network by analysing the freely available STD code book and putting it into numerical, instead of alphabetical, order. In those days probably with file cards in a shoe box. He was charged, and convicted, under the Official Secrets Act. Was it Duncan Campbell?
mikeS | 30.07.25 - 10:37 a.m. | #
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One of your best blogs for ages. Endlessly fascinating. Other weird Londons are the Met Police boundary and (if they can still be located) where the power was supplied by the London Electricity Board and North Thames Gas.
Ta.
Joel | 30.07.25 - 3:55 p.m. | #
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mikeS - that seems unlikely as for example Cardiff was 0222 (now 01222), Cambridge 0223, Aberdeen 0224, Bath 0225, Barnsley 0226 etc., a random order of places whose first two letters were each A or B or C, so 22 on the telephone dial.
Henry | 31.07.25 - 2:19 a.m. | #
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mikeS, I did precisely that in the 1960s, using the method you described. I can't imagine how that could breach the Official Secrets Act.
Betterbee | 31.07.25 - 10:33 p.m. | #
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mikeS, Betterbee - You're thinking of the 1978 "ABC Trial".
Gerry | 31.07.25 - 11:22 p.m. | #
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dg – Sorry, but you’re mistaken. Brentwood 0BR7 / 01277 was never in the London area. As the Dialling Codes booklets show, it was always an ‘a’ rate trunk call, not a local call.
Similarly, Slough 0SL3 / 01753 wasn’t in the London Region, although it was a local call. Source: BT maps from 1980/81 and 2000.
Gerry | 01.08.25 - 1:15 p.m. | #
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This post is about dialling codes in Greater London, not the London telephone area.
diamond geezer | Homepage | 01.08.25 - 2:18 p.m. | #
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B2024 – Here's some Lodge Hill nostalgia for you It's a rare example of a code book which shows ANSon, ANVil, DUChess, EDWard, JUBilee, LAGoon, LOCkwood and TST. They seem to be names intended for planned new exchanges which were overtaken by All Figure Numbers, hence never shown in the conversion tables in post AFN booklets.
ANVil was Dagenham (Ford factory) and became 593; apparently listed in a German directory as LXD (probably London eXchange Dagenham). LAGoon related to the Surbiton lido and LOCkwood was the second exchange serving North Finchley (HILlside).
Gerry | 01.08.25 - 5:55 p.m. | #
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And to think it's all going to become 'virtual' and a rather academic archaeological legacy after the impending analogue switch off. I expect most domestic customers will ditch landline numbers then.
NickW | 21.08.25 - 2:02 p.m. | #
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Hainult is in London....
Jonthan1988 | 07.09.25 - 8:45 p.m. | #
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...but Hainault Telephone Exchange is 150m outside London, on Fencepiece Road.
diamond geezer | Homepage | 07.09.25 - 9:04 p.m. | #
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