London phone numbers

[SoupDragon]

I've just been processing ticket applications for a PTA event and am sooo annoyed with the number of people who say their phone number is 0208 654 blah blah blah. No it's not. It's 020 8654....

Petty and pedantic, yes, but it's simply incorrect to put it as 0208.

Bah!

Maybe our DC go to the same school...

I am with Wendy on this. I much prefer 0208 however I do know that it should be 020 then 7 or 8 but it just doesn't seem right to me, not after the 0181 were four digit numbers previously.
Anyway I've not had anyone correct me in all these years so I'll just carry on being the telephone rebel...

FWIW, I get lots of London people giving me their phone numbers at work and I would estimate that above 75% of them still say 0207 or 0208 rather than 020 and then the rest of it. So if we're wrong, we're in a majority

(BigGitDad, you aren't a reincarnation of BigGayDad by any chance?)

oooh nooo! I do get that but have decided to stck with the name.
I usually hang aroung the music thread or take the mick out of Kew for the Welsh Rugby. (You know Kew I have not mentioned the world cup once! Especially after your prediction..)

SquonkaClaus - I too can remember when London was simply "01"

I'm coming in late on this one too, but to be honest I didn't realise i was a pedant about this until I read the thread. I know 020 is the code, and therefore Soupy is correct, but.... its 0207 or 0208 for me

I have known my current phone number almost all my life, as my home has been in the family for a longtime, and I have always known it with the code then 123 1234 pattern. There is no way a change in code (which seems to happen every few years) is going to change that.

I very rarely have to dial local in London, and if I do its on my mobile when you need to dial the full 0208 anyway.

So 0208 it is, and that is how I write it down too.

Jura, our number used to be FITZROY 123 1234 - doesn't that sound so 1920's!

Soupy - adding my support here. It drives me MAD! Particularly when I am talking to someone in London and giving them my work number, so I just say "7xxxxxxx" and they say "oh, so 0207 7xxxxxzz" NO NO NO.
And the number of people in London who haven't yet realised that if you're in an 020 7 area, and you want to dial an 020 8 number, you don't need to dial the 020.

And of course the world revolves around London - why wouldn't it??

Of course, people elsewhere in the country can always start their own telephone number thread!

i prefer 0207 or 0208 then you know what part of london they're in.

some many changes still like 01 for london

I always says 0207 or 0208 and I don't CARE if that's wrong, it is still the same number and it just sounds better!

I had a database of clients up in London, over 10,000 numbers, and I changed them all to 0208 and 0207

In the same way, down here in Portsmouth we are 0239 (list of codes here) and then your phone number is 2xx xxxx - but everyone always says 02392 xxxxxx (LOL I actually typed my real phone number in there first! )

DH does that thing where he reads his mobile number out 07xx yyx xxx instead of 07xxy yxxxx, because he says "double y" IYSWIM - drive me nuts!

southeastastra, you can still tell which part of London they're in when the number is 020 7xxx xxxx or 020 8xxx xxxx.

020 is the London code. I still use 0208, 0207, 0203, though.

I actually forgot that to dial a london number from London I don't need to dial 020! Must try that one soon ...

i know that lyra just sounds easier if put at the beginning

Snippet of useless information for you - the code for the area around Heathrow, when it first got a London code but before it went all-numeric, was called SKYport - like something out of Thunderbirds

(It still is SKY - 759 - but 897 was added later as there weren't enough numbers; in fact there may even be another one now as I can imagine that 20,000 numbers isn't nearly enough for an airport that size, let alone all the neighbours)

And, another useless snippet, when Penguin Books (who for decades were based on the A4 next to the airport) were allocated their new number, they asked for 1984 in honour of George Orwell: SKYport 1984 - very futuristic.

(I just looked them up though and their reg office is in London now and their customer service number is an 0870. Sigh)

OK, I'm up for the challenge Kewcumber- which London Borough is also in a county (and which county?) And do you pay 2 lots of council tax?!

I remember when our London phone number was Crescent 2006, before 01/081/0181/020 8 were invented. But it has to be "020 8" not 0208.

but southeastastra, our last number was 020 8xxx, even though we were definitely central (we were ) and all our neighbours were 020 7xxx.

Sorry, I'm with the pedants ...

OK lady muck - the only possibility I can find is the village of Knockholt (in LB of Bromley) was transferred back to Kent in 1969?

Which london borough is the only one to straddle the Thames?

I live in Kent it's also a London borough. No one cares but I just needed you to know.

and it's 020 8xx xxxx OKAY?

The whole of Kent is a London borough?

I think you mean 020 8xxx xxxx actually, Kbear

(You're wrong though - unless you really meant to say 0208 xxx xxxx? )

I worked with BT when the number change came in

it is quite definitely meant to be

020 8
020 7

the London prefix is 020

the 8 is outer, the 7 inner but it belongs with the number

most people get it wrong, including a number of businesses

sorry wendy