History Of London's Phone Codes

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  • Опубликовано: 6 окт 2024
  • It hasn't always been '020' for London, going way back .. here's how London's phone codes have changed over the year, and grown to meet the needs of the city.

Комментарии • 134

  • @williamfoy599
    @williamfoy599 3 года назад +1

    I miss the old 01 dialling code for London. It was a part of my childhood, having been born in 1975.

  • @PauldeSwardt
    @PauldeSwardt Год назад +1

    I used to love those old black & white film where they used to answer Mayfair 1212 so similarly would, coming from Balham (Gateway to the South) answer Kelvin 1212!

  • @webrarian
    @webrarian 7 лет назад +5

    I'm old enough to be able to remember picking up the phone and saying "Molesey 1322". Then it became "979 1322" - and after that I moved out of London. It was (still is, I believe) an interesting exchange as it covers both the 'Surrey' and 'Middlesex' sides of the Thames.

  • @bigglessy
    @bigglessy 7 лет назад +6

    As a Romford resident I would like to formally complain about your suggestion that we would ever identify with being Essex based in any way whatsoever. :)

    • @ianmoseley9910
      @ianmoseley9910 6 лет назад

      bigglessy Better than being sneered at as the3East End

  • @RichardAspdenOfficial
    @RichardAspdenOfficial 7 лет назад +4

    I remember the national push in adding the 1 to all area codes in 95. They had those "That's one to remember" ads on the TV.

    • @625tvroom
      @625tvroom 7 лет назад +3

      Richard Aspden wasn't that marketed as 'phONE day'?

    • @RichardAspdenOfficial
      @RichardAspdenOfficial 7 лет назад

      Maybe. I remember the ads ending with a voice over saying, "That's one to remember."
      After a quick google search, turns out you're right +625tvroom it was advertised as "phONE Day."

  • @yourpalcal1412
    @yourpalcal1412 7 лет назад +74

    Did you hear that the 999 is soon being changed to 0118 999 881 999 119 725 3? With the jingle its easier to remember.

    • @luxford60
      @luxford60 7 лет назад +6

      Well, it's easy to remember if you're Moss. Not so easy for the rest of us.

    • @625tvroom
      @625tvroom 7 лет назад +1

      YourPalCal if you dial that on a modern Android phone with the standard dialler, it changes makes the green phone icon flash blue and red!

    • @europeantechnic
      @europeantechnic 7 лет назад

      damn, my android phone isn't modern enough - or it's a wind-up! :-P

    • @625tvroom
      @625tvroom 7 лет назад +1

      europeantechnic genuinely true! Easter egg put there by Google Devs!

    • @europeantechnic
      @europeantechnic 7 лет назад

      Thanks. I see my phone is only 5.1 and this is in 6

  • @ianmoseley9910
    @ianmoseley9910 6 лет назад +2

    I can remember when they used to use the three letters of the exchange name - e.g. locally GRA for Grangewood.
    You should clarify that you do not need to dial the 020 between any two 'phones in the 020 area. Also that people can take their numbers with them it is possible therefore for 020 numbers to be attached to non-London addresses

  • @suttonbloke
    @suttonbloke 7 лет назад +3

    I think the way the change from 0171 and 0181 to 020 was marketed is the reason why a lot of people say their area code is 0207 or 0208. They didn't really make it very clear that the whole of London was reverting to having a single dialling code (020), and that if you previously had an 0171 number, you were to add a 7 to the start of your own number etc. A lot of people seemed to just think that 0207 was replacing 0171, and 0208 replacing 0181. It does wind me up when people give their number as 0208-123-4567 rather than 020-8123-4567, but I'm sure I'll get over it one day!

  • @StuartClary
    @StuartClary 7 лет назад +2

    The map of the 020 area is a bit wrong, I grew up in Chessington, which in the pointy bit of Greater London that sticks out to the south west and it's always had a London phone number - it's definately 020

  • @BLX187
    @BLX187 7 лет назад +2

    love this channel..

  • @harryandruschak2843
    @harryandruschak2843 7 лет назад +2

    We have that sort of problem in the USA, with several cities having split zones, and also "overlay" zones. If you want a traditional line and a fax line into your home, they may have different area codes.

  • @dtvfan24
    @dtvfan24 7 лет назад +2

    still remember, the old 0181 code. still posted on businesses around my town.

  • @davidwho1011
    @davidwho1011 7 лет назад +1

    Ahhh. Finally I understand!
    Thanks Geoff. :)

  • @mj897
    @mj897 7 лет назад +10

    my favourite Chinese take away still has a 01 number on the shop front. Chungs in Heston. If it ain't broken why fix it, always got a queue on weekends.

    • @ToranJShaw
      @ToranJShaw 7 лет назад +7

      I know of one or two places in Ealing which still show the old 01 number. It's certainly a good indicator to show that they've been around for a while!

    • @zig131
      @zig131 7 лет назад +2

      Ruislip in the London Borough of Hillingdon uses the 01895 area code

    • @ToranJShaw
      @ToranJShaw 7 лет назад

      Thomas Sturges-Allard Although Hayes, which is in the same borough, uses 020.

  • @NeilHallJenHall
    @NeilHallJenHall 7 лет назад +1

    We are Essex in Hornchurch, the 01708 :)

  • @Inkyminkyzizwoz
    @Inkyminkyzizwoz 7 лет назад +1

    I remember when the dialling code for Merseyside was 051 and changed to 0151. There's an Ofiveone nightclub in Liverpool, presumably in reference to the code

  • @ThomasJM
    @ThomasJM 7 лет назад +1

    That's a bit like what happened in Toronto the main area code for a lot of the are around it used to be 416 but they were running out of numbers so areas outside of the city of Toronto were given the are code 905. Since then both area codes have had secondary ones added to them Toronto now actually has three 416, 647 and 437 due to all of the cellphones poel have now, plus old phone numbers can't be used for a certain length of time after the number has been disconnected.

  • @CJT80
    @CJT80 7 лет назад +21

    Geoff did you intentionally put that end graphic with 0207/0208/0203 in? Bearing in mind you just said the code for London is 020 and the rest is part of the main number!! Lets take the old Going Live or maybe Live and Kicking number 081 811 8181 became 0181 811 8181 it would now be (assuming it still works) 020 8811 8181 NOT 0208 811 8181 :-)
    Edit: Random fact TM Century made the Jingle for that number! :P

    • @pageuk
      @pageuk 7 лет назад +2

      CJT80 the end graphic should have been (020) 7123 4567 etc but then I think the point about 020 only being followed by 3, 7 or 8 until 2020 when we will get it followed by 4 and 5 would be lost in the image. Also worth noting that 020 0xxx xxxx and 020 1xxx xxxx are valid but as they can only be dialled in the full format are only used as termination points for things like premium rate services.

    • @CJT80
      @CJT80 7 лет назад

      Indeed I am aware of the 020 0/1XXX national numbers. I have not seen one in ages however.

    • @gx8fif
      @gx8fif 7 лет назад +3

      I thought that too and it made me cringe. Geoff, you really ought to correct that so they are all 020 format numbers.
      I used to live in Reading (0118) and people - nearly 20 years after their change - still wrongly write "01189" for the dialing code. Even BT gets it wrong!

    • @wulla2
      @wulla2 7 лет назад +2

      Pity about the silly and misleading mistake at the end. This adds to the confusion over 020 vs 020x. It would have been possible to show the fourth digits separately in the explanation of 020 7, 020 8 and 020 3.
      Another interesting angle is the relics in the local exchange codes of the original alphabetic characters. I think there are still quite a lot of these, e.g. 7229 for BAYswater, 7274 for BRIxton.

    • @CJT80
      @CJT80 7 лет назад

      wulla2, I was unaware of that... I guess that ties in with Whitehall 1212 for the Metropolitan Police

  • @ruralaccentwoodcraft604
    @ruralaccentwoodcraft604 7 лет назад +7

    Isn't that a picture of Northern Ireland when you talk about the Big Number Change?

    • @Londonistvids
      @Londonistvids  7 лет назад +3

      Yup, it was the only image we could find to use!

  • @ReadandWite
    @ReadandWite 7 лет назад +2

    Romford's postal address is still Essex but we are administered by the London Borough of Havering. I live in Harold Wood about a mile from the Havering-Essex border. Before 1967 when the LCC became the GLC we did use to live in Essex administered by the Hornchurch Urban District Council. The only change to our postal address was to add the postcode. Yes I am that old. We still have our original telephone number which started life as ING(rebourne) 4xxxx (the local exchange, whose building still exists). Interestingly the ING was dialled on the phone using the letters printed with the numbers much like a modern day keypad has, so even back then the GPO were switching with numbers and not letters (makes sense) but the letters were EASIER for us to remember. Many cultural and technical changes later it is now 017083 4xxxx and in my family everything before the 4 is considered to be GPO/BT area coding, so changing that part of the code again will be no trouble, if it ever comes. And no it does not fall into the examples that you showed , it being one or two digits shorter but us older people should have some advantages, eh?

    • @aperson2330
      @aperson2330 7 лет назад

      ReadandWite
      If you check a Romford postal address on the Royal Mail website there is no Essex in the finished article.
      Romford became part of London in 1965, not 1967.

  • @AtheistOrphan
    @AtheistOrphan 7 лет назад +5

    I have an old Harrods catalogue which gives it's phone number as 'Sloane 1234'.

    • @lcmortensen
      @lcmortensen 7 лет назад +1

      They use to use exchange names instead of numbers. SLO= 750 so the full number was 750-1234.

  • @andrewholloway231
    @andrewholloway231 7 лет назад +1

    I remember the BT advert when the London codes changed to 071 and 081.

  • @S1lverArr0w
    @S1lverArr0w 7 лет назад +1

    I didn't understand anything but this was so satisfying to watch😂😂

  • @dannyjwms
    @dannyjwms 7 лет назад +3

    West London (Hillingdon) have 01895 which at some point was 0895

  • @RendererEP
    @RendererEP 7 лет назад +2

    actually theres a part of romford called rush green which has an 020 dialing code

  • @crubba
    @crubba 7 лет назад +1

    nice sound design on this, geoff!

  • @paleonard1979
    @paleonard1979 7 лет назад +3

    But will there be 0204, 0205 etc numbers. Surely fax machines/dial up seperate numbers are on the decline and so therefore, surely those numbers are being released back into the "pool" of numbers?

  • @Brian3989
    @Brian3989 7 лет назад +2

    I think the ending graphic should be changed to properly show the 020 code plus xnnn nnnn, at present x can be 7, 8 or 3. Additional starting numbers will appear.

  • @kaitlyn__L
    @kaitlyn__L 7 лет назад +1

    fascinating! since i'm used to numbers outside certain cities being 5 digit area code and 6 digit individual number, it's rly interesting to me to see it written xxx-xxxx just like in the USA.
    (though now i live in glasgow which is another city to have a 7 digit number, with a 4 digit area code.)

    • @jgroenveld1268
      @jgroenveld1268 7 лет назад

      In New Zealand - if calling local numbers it would be XXX-XXXX as well but unlike the US - our area codes are only two digits not three.

    • @pageuk
      @pageuk 7 лет назад

      Kit Vitae but not any more. Now it should be 020 xxxx xxxx but sooooo many people do 020x xxx xxxx. I see many signs in London incorrectly formatted but now as more people are using mobile phone the whole number has to be dialled anyway but it still makes my teeth itch seeing 020x on a sign.

    • @kaitlyn__L
      @kaitlyn__L 7 лет назад

      pageuk i know, i watched the video too! :)

  • @LucavlogsandgamingOFFICIAL
    @LucavlogsandgamingOFFICIAL 7 лет назад +1

    geoff please go over the old uckfield line plus I live in uckfield so please do it

  • @lcmortensen
    @lcmortensen 7 лет назад

    It's like in mid-2000s New Zealand when Telecom (now Spark) migrated everyone from the 025 prefix to the 027 prefix and standardised numbers at ten digits total to make room for more numbers. Those people whose numbers didn't total ten digits had 4s added between the 027 and their number to make up, e.g. 025 52x-xxx became 027 452-xxxx. Yet today, people still write the numbers 0274 52x-xxx...

  • @BertieFett
    @BertieFett 7 лет назад +1

    I remember these changes, they started when I was at school. Postcodes are similar. I live in Woodford green which has an Essex postcode (IG8) but I have a London telephone number and line in LB Redbridge to complicate things further there is a welcome to Essex sign at the end of my road as I travel out of London! Perhaps you could explain these type of anomalies in another video?

    • @karlgookey
      @karlgookey 7 лет назад

      I had a similar thing. I grew up in Debden, officially in Essex, with a London telephone number and a London post code.

    • @BertieFett
      @BertieFett 3 года назад

      @Deesar ThafaksIG postcodes addresses are all Xx, Essex IGXX. Yes you might live in a London borough but you postal address is still Essex, where it used to be before the city expanded. It also lets the Royal Mail pay staff less - my father who was a postman in I,ford had a paycut when he was told it was Essex not London

  • @kd1s
    @kd1s 7 лет назад

    Wow - very strange approach to number growth. And in the United States the rollout of what you call STD was DDD - for Direct Distance Dialing. It started in the 1950's and now we're at 100% DDD in the U.S. But we pretty much dial 10 digits for everything. Format is Area code + Exchange Code and then Subscriber or NNN-NNN-NNNN - it's just that the first N can't be 0 or 1. And while the modems went away, mobile phones came about and so the need for Exchange codes is still growing.

  • @Ravenjak49
    @Ravenjak49 7 лет назад +1

    Thanks Geoff, that solves an argument with my londoner fiancee!

  • @625tvroom
    @625tvroom 7 лет назад

    For the opening example, the number would never be shown with brackets. Instead (01) 123-4567 would be written as 01-123 4567, since London and other major areas used an all-figure format. The brackets were for exchanges in the rest of the country where the place name was used when displaying the number, eg Bedford (01234) 56789. Think a re-edit is in order :-)

  • @europeantechnic
    @europeantechnic 7 лет назад +5

    I can't believe after making the effort to tell us it's 020 not 0207 etc, why does the final slide show 0207 0208 etc ? It should be 020 7123 4567 020 3123 4567 etc ...

    • @hairyairey
      @hairyairey 6 лет назад

      He made a mistake and admitted it. No chance of a career in politics then...

  • @onthewater4020
    @onthewater4020 7 лет назад

    God this makes me happy to live in Canada where phone numbers all follow an unchanging system...

  • @houstonceng
    @houstonceng 7 лет назад

    The London code is 020. The 7, 8 and 3 should officially be added to the first three numbers in the old 7 digit code to create the new format 020 nnnn nnnn.

  • @jezzam2034
    @jezzam2034 7 лет назад

    Hey! I live in Cranham/Upminster (it's nice to get a mention out in the East - for once!) and I class myself as Essex/London boundary - I guess I'm correct when I say that?

    • @Londonistvids
      @Londonistvids  7 лет назад +1

      who do you pay your council tax to Jezz! London Borough of Havering, or an Essex Borough? that's how you know ...

    • @jezzam2034
      @jezzam2034 7 лет назад +1

      Londonist Ltd Havering! I guess I must be in London then! 🙂

  • @mj897
    @mj897 7 лет назад

    I remember when numbers would be list by area too on local advertising as the 1st three digits after 01 would all be the same. for example CALL hounslow1234 would be well known locally as 5771234. as all numbers in Hounslow would be 577. all end after cable came in and a new set of numbers covering the area too and numbers ran out.

  • @cujoyyc4453
    @cujoyyc4453 7 лет назад +1

    Pedantically speaking, no number is O 2 O, or oh two oh. O is a letter. 0 is a number, ergo, its 0 2 0 or zero two zero.

  • @elizabetharmada5335
    @elizabetharmada5335 6 лет назад

    Who invented the country codes and area codes ?

  • @etechgamesandstuff
    @etechgamesandstuff 7 лет назад +1

    So why did orpington get missed? How bizarre

    • @etechgamesandstuff
      @etechgamesandstuff 7 лет назад +1

      TheTelephonePrankster bromley got an 020 number? Last time I checked we left Kent in 1965 so it's actually you who is pretending your in Kent? 🙊

  • @TheMightyKinkle
    @TheMightyKinkle 7 лет назад

    When I see an 020 number appear on my mobile phone, I hang because I know it's spam

  • @RichardGMoss
    @RichardGMoss 7 лет назад +3

    why are the area codes in Britain so long? in the US (a much bigger country) area codes are only 3 digits making no number longer than 10 digits!

    • @theyxaj
      @theyxaj 7 лет назад +1

      I am curious about this as well.

    • @Brian3989
      @Brian3989 7 лет назад +2

      In USA and Canada surely you full number is area code, exchange and subscriber number. 881 555 1234, total of 10 digits, plus your long distant code 1. In Great Britain subscriber numbers can be, 4, 5, 6, 7 or 8 digits. London 8 digits, Birmingham and Manchester 7 digits, those include exchange and subscriber numbers. Outside those large cities local number is six or less. Maximum allowed length including code is 11 digits. Original codes and number groupings based on 1950's exchange structure.

    • @lcmortensen
      @lcmortensen 7 лет назад +1

      The area codes are longer when the subscriber numbers are shorter. (020) xxx-xxxx, (0118) xxx-xxxx, (01865) xx-xxxx, (015396) x-xxxx, etc.

    • @suttonbloke
      @suttonbloke 7 лет назад +2

      This makes me think of a New Zealand comedian I once saw doing stand-up at the Comedy Store in London. One of his jokes was that he couldn't believe phone numbers in London were eight digits long, because his phone number back home in New Zealand was just "8"!

    • @batman51
      @batman51 7 лет назад

      Also they do not have separate 07 numbers for mobiles (or cells"!)l

  • @MrGyges
    @MrGyges 7 лет назад

    I remember when the first three were letters, eg, AMB 1234 or PAD 1234 etc Happy Daze

  • @ktx9325
    @ktx9325 6 лет назад

    I’m in Hillingdon (Ruislip) and we are 01895??

  • @iEuphemia
    @iEuphemia 7 лет назад +4

    Any reason why a lot of nuisance calls come from 0203 numbers?

    • @frostmd
      @frostmd 7 лет назад +3

      A lot of the Voice-over-IP number ranges live there…

    • @ToranJShaw
      @ToranJShaw 7 лет назад +2

      I know Skype uses 0203 for their virtual numbers, as my dad has one.

  • @DarthTella
    @DarthTella 7 лет назад

    But what about cell phones?
    I originally lived in Toronto Canada, but now live outside the city. My phone number is still has the old 416 prefix although I live in an area that uses 905. Saves me on long distance charges when I call certain areas.

    • @spazda_mx5
      @spazda_mx5 7 лет назад +5

      Mobile phones in the UK don't have geographic prefixes like they do in US and Canada, they have their own prefix which begin 07xxx xxxxxx

    • @europeantechnic
      @europeantechnic 7 лет назад +2

      which makes sense - after all they're mobile - they're not fixed at a single location!

    • @tomsmith5584
      @tomsmith5584 7 лет назад +1

      Niki Groeger In the U.S., you can keep your old cell phone area code when you move. My cell's area code is 720 (Denver) even though I live in the 440 area code (suburban Cleveland).

    • @Mortimer50145
      @Mortimer50145 7 лет назад

      One other thing: unlike in the US, it is the *caller* who pays the higher call charges for calling a mobile / cellphone, not the person being called. The fact that all mobile number begin 07 (which no landline number does) makes it clear that the call will be charged at a higher rate.
      PS: Geoff, I think you really *do* need to fix that final graphic that shows 0208 rather that 020 (with the 8 being part of the 8xxx-xxx-xxxx etc), because you need to dispel the myth that "the code for inner London is 0208".

  • @oiseaudubonheur
    @oiseaudubonheur 3 года назад

    People from Orpington claiming they're from Kent and those from Romford saying they're from Essex is obviously not due to their landlines... I mean, come on. Reductive much.

  • @benlatimer9823
    @benlatimer9823 7 лет назад

    Big number change featuring Northern Ireland

  • @OasisCarl
    @OasisCarl 7 лет назад

    Big up the Orpnarm 01689

  • @BandidoDescalzo
    @BandidoDescalzo 7 лет назад +1

    what about 0206, 0202 and 0201?

    • @ianmoseley9910
      @ianmoseley9910 6 лет назад +1

      josiah O'Neill - I think the 1xxx and 2xxx numbers have special uses. The next available was 3xxx and they can fill in the 4,5, and 6 as and when they needthem

  • @roses1298
    @roses1298 7 лет назад

    Kilburn uses 020! Yay...

  • @s10dlka
    @s10dlka 7 лет назад

    Wait I thought 0207 was for inner London and 0208 was greater London. So that's not the case? Then what's the difference between them?

    • @AtheistOrphan
      @AtheistOrphan 7 лет назад

      s10dlka - 1.

    • @ianmoseley9910
      @ianmoseley9910 6 лет назад

      s10dlka - they are different blocks of numbers. 020 is the area code, the next 4 are the 'director' code And the last 4 are the telephone number in that director code block.

  • @TSimchak
    @TSimchak 7 лет назад

    And 030 for many government lines.

  • @SamuelPlaysMC
    @SamuelPlaysMC 7 лет назад

    UNDER 301 Club!

  • @rckoubasalah8093
    @rckoubasalah8093 7 лет назад

    Romford is in Essex not london .check the postcode

    • @Londonistvids
      @Londonistvids  7 лет назад +8

      Nope! Romford is in the London Borough of Havering - if you live there, you pay your council tax to a London Borough, not an Essex one. We have another video 'Do You Live in London?' that discusses this, because it used to be but now isn't.

    • @suttonbloke
      @suttonbloke 7 лет назад +2

      It used to be in Essex, in the same way that places like Sutton used to be in Surrey, and Bromley in Kent, but when the boundaries were moved 40-something years ago, to avoid confusion those places kept their non-London postcodes (SM for Sutton, BR for Bromley, CR for Croydon etc.), but all of those places are now in London boroughs, so officially part of London, even though some people still say "Sutton, Surrey", "Romford, Essex", "Bromley, Kent" etc.

    • @aperson2330
      @aperson2330 7 лет назад

      salah salah
      Checked on Royal Mail website, not Essex.

  • @AtheistOrphan
    @AtheistOrphan 7 лет назад

    Am I the only old fart that remembers the '01 for London' TV programme?

  • @juansdf1
    @juansdf1 7 лет назад

    OK. Now I'm lost ahahah

  • @lumpyfishgravy
    @lumpyfishgravy 6 лет назад

    (Is Nowhere Sacred?) I grew up knowing folks from Orpington who would swear they were from Kent. And Croydon - well surely that's Surrey? It can't surely be London - or we all are? And what's that big willy over Chessington? I mean what gives it the right?

  • @nitramretep
    @nitramretep 7 лет назад

    Do these numbers apply to cell phones?

    • @rollstuhlmeister
      @rollstuhlmeister 7 лет назад

      Definitely not.

    • @StuartClary
      @StuartClary 7 лет назад +2

      Mobile numbers all start 07. They aren't geographic numbers for obvious reasons

  • @roses1298
    @roses1298 7 лет назад

    Mine is 0778...

  • @hotelmario510
    @hotelmario510 6 лет назад

    Romford is not Essex. I don't care what anyone says.

  • @Glenco1967
    @Glenco1967 6 лет назад

    Do you realize they are not ohs but zeros.

  • @pingpongpung
    @pingpongpung 7 лет назад

    As someone from Rotterdam I can only give the code 020 a thumbs down. Why not use 010, the greatest code of them all?

  • @vincentdeguard4726
    @vincentdeguard4726 7 лет назад +1

    what a mess!...goes to show (along with transport/roads, hospitals, doctors, housing, pollution) that London is "over-crowded" and unsubstantable. but no one wants to admit it... so "we" keep making "adjustments".

  • @owenchuarbx
    @owenchuarbx 7 лет назад

    confusing

  • @zeroattitude5445
    @zeroattitude5445 7 лет назад

    01923