Do counties still exist in postal addresses?

[delilabell]

Sort of a thread about a thread because on the one about whether somewhere is London or Kent somebody mentioned that
"Postal addresses do not, and have not for a good while, used counties"
Is this true? I still do when I (occasionally) right letters.

I used to live in a county town so it would be like writing the address
Lincoln
Lincolnshire
Which seems pointless.
Obviously you still get e.g. school services from Lincolnshire.

I suppose it may be worth including the county if your handwriting makes the postcode potentially ambiguous and if your town is non-unique. There must be some cases still where human intelligence is required by the Royal Mail to figure out where was intended?

(Anyone old enough to remember the That's Life 'weird addresses which worked' thing?)

@WingBingo

There are different street names, most online databases I can scroll through to ours. But it’s a way to meet the neighbours when things go elsewhere.

Write the address clearly. Some handwriting is unreadable.

Some people write the number 7 in a way that it looks like a 4. Some people write 1 but it looks like a 7, some people cross 7s and 0s. Sometimes 5 looks like an 8, G like a 6 etc.

House number or name and postcode is all you need but the rest will help if there is any difficulty.

County is nice but not needed and if it's wrong seems silly. I don't add it.

I live in a village in a town, and don't include the village or county. On-line forms that insist on City are a pain because I don't live in a city.

I live in a city which is a county eg Bristol.

The Bristol postcode is BS.
Bristol is also a county.

Weston super Mare is in North Somerset. It has a BS postcode.
Keynsham is in Bath and North East Somerset. It has a BS postcode.
Thornbury is in South Gloucestershire. It has a BS postcode.

Bristol is the postal town. So a Keynsham (or Weston or Thornbury) address will be

1 High Street
Keynsham
Bristol
BS?? 1??

An address in central Bristol would not need 2 lines saying Bristol (one for the city and one for the county).

However some databases still believe that Bristol is in Avon. Avon only existed as a county between 1974 and 1996 !!!

I am sure that each house/building number is unique per postcode, hence the combination is a unique postal address.

That’s my understanding, too, and any address can be ascertained from the property name/number and postcode. (I’m not sure how it works with flats.)

Also, to fellow ex-SE19-ers.

Also, to fellow ex-SE19-ers

Ha, waving back! Where have you left the wonders of CP for? We've gone to the Kent coast.

I'm 99% certain I could write just one word and no postcode on an envelope, put it in the post box with a stamp on and it would get delivered back to me.

I keep meaning to test the theory but haven't got round to it yet.

I can't remember seeing any mail without the county

Whaaat? Have you only ever seen one letter? Next to none of the post I get has the county on, as everyone else has said it's totally unnecessary

The wilds of Lincolnshire, a village of around 25 people. With more dramas and falling about than we ever experienced in SE19. As much as I loved where we were, it’s lovely to see the stars and feel the quiet at night.

Must be lovely to live where you are; have had some very happy days in various places on the Kent coast.

@iamaLeafontheWind I understand, thank you!