Do Irish streets have odd and even sides of the road?

[Bucket07]

Walking to work yesterday in London. Was stopped by two very confused Irish women who were standing outside building numbers 12 and 14. They said they were looking for number 15 and couldn't find it anywhere, could I help? It's not completely unusual for building numbers to be a bit eccentric round here so I puzzled for a bit and then ended up saying, well if it's not on the other side of the road then I'm just not sure, sorry. They looked at me astounded and asked why it would be on the other side of the road? I explained the odd and even system and they went on their way to the correct building. I'd never thought about this before- are we the only country to have this numbering system?

Hi from Dublin.

My parents’ house is no. 37, and they’re in between no. 35 and no. 39.
No. 36 is across the street.

I guess it varies from place to place? Plus, typically over here, only houses in towns and cities are numbers so if they live rurally, they may not realise this.

When I lived in Dublin, all the houses where I lived had names not numbers!

I used to work for Interflora, on a team troubleshooting tech issues for florists using the bespoke ordering system.

90% of the calls were due to florists struggling with the funky addresses that are in Ireland; there aren’t even post codes, unlike NI. Having spoken to a couple of florists in Dublin, the posties (this was in 2014 btw), are very knowledgeable about the properties on their rounds, and that is how the postal system still worked (and likely still does)

I lived in a cul de sac in Cornwall, which, instead of odds and evens numbering, just numbered round the road, from 1- 30. Except no number 13 as that might have been bad luck.
Countless wrong deliveries.

Ireland started using Eircodes in 2015.

We don’s use post codes. Every property has a unique identifier called an Eircode.

Why do Brits view Ireland as a mini-England? So weird.

Not where I am , it's usually sequential . First time I seen it was in the UK.

Yes in towns and cities it's typically odds on one side and evens on the other.

But I guess if you're not from a road like that then maybe it's an understandable gap in general knowledge, most of us don't have to find an unknown address very often.

We had a colleague from rural mid-Wales who was unaware of odds and evens on opposite sides.

It's not like it's something that you're ever specifically taught though, so I can understand if you've never lived in an urban area.

It varies. Where I'm from in Dublin, it's sequential.

No, OP, we just crouch grunting in our sod cabins, gnawing spuds and hoping sequential road numbering will arrive with our conquerors.

What do you think, OP?

An Eircode is a post code; Eircode is just our name for it.

They work quite different to post codes though afaik. I'm in NI and our whole street has the same post code, whereas my mum's eircode is unique to her house.

No, they work very differently.

I'm Irish and first noticed the odd even thing in Dublin, it's not in my town at all and I don't think in another regional city I lived in. So it's likely it's something dated from British times in the Pale? Or maybe just larger urban areas. Funny I never thought of it before

I live in England and on my road the houses go sequentially up one side of the road until the houses stop and then back down the other side.

So 17 is in between 16 and 18 with 43 opposite on the other side of the road. Delivery drivers get very confused.

Eircodes are not postcodes. They are different systems.

Yes, largely in Cities you find odd and even numbers on opposite sides of the road. I think this is actually a hangover from British rule and was continued after independence.

Not sure of the reasoning behind it but new housing estates (in Dublin anyway) continue with this.

But it literally says on the Eircode website 'Irelands smart postcode system'. If it's not a postcode, then what is it?

@NowThatYouSayIt hoping sequential road numbering will arrive with our conquerors.

speak grunt for yourself, they'll have to take my townland name from my cold dead hands.

I do concede the eircode is handy for a middle of the night emergency doctor or ambulance callout.

@HornyHornersPinkyWinky

It's an Eircode!

Postcodes are not unique to individual properties in the UK.

Eircodes are unique to individual properties.

Did you live on the Hill of Howth or similar, OP? Genuinely, I can't think of where else in Dublin the houses would routinely have names rather than numbers.

It's mostly odd/even sides of the street around here, though sequential isn't unusual.

Sorry, I didn't mean OP!

Dalkey, I know, not exactly real life 😳😀

It's pretty obvious OP was asking if in Ireland the street numbers tend to be 1, 2, 3, 4 all on the same side rather than alternating sides. Not sure why you're taking offence?

Not that I can talk - I'm at number 62 and next door is number 23!

Haha, that’s a great story! The odd/even street numbering system isn’t unique to the UK many countries use it, including parts of Europe and the US. It helps with navigation, especially in cities with older or less structured street layouts. Still, it’s funny how something so familiar to you can be so puzzling to someone from a different place!