Welcome to ukareacode.co.uk, the online guide to United Kingdom telephone area codes. We used official numbering data to prepare a comprehensive and easy-to-navigate website that answers all your questions about UK dialling codes.
An area code (dialling code) is the first part of a UK landline number, which tells you roughly where the line is located. Area codes were introduced when calls were connected by operators and early exchanges, to route them quickly to the right part of the country. Today the network is digital, but the codes are still used: every landline number starts with the code of its area, for example 020 for London or 0161 for Manchester.
Until 1995 geographic area codes began with 0 followed by the local code (for example 061 for Manchester). On PhONEday, 16 April 1995, the digit 1 was added after the 0, so all geographic codes started with 01 (061 became 0161). In 2000, with the Big Number Change, new 02 codes were introduced for London (020), Cardiff (029), Belfast and the rest of Northern Ireland (028), Coventry (024), and Portsmouth and Southampton (023). These are still used today.
Even though landlines are used less often than before, you still regularly need to check where a number comes from or how to dial it from abroad. At ukareacode.co.uk you will find the number format, international dialling format, map and the places covered for every UK area code.