PENARTH has been revealed as one of the most desirable postcodes to live in, in a new study from the Royal Mail.

Royal Mail commissioned a study of postcodes to find the most desirable places to live and work in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland based on a range of factors including good schools, access to green spaces and average commuting times.

The SA6 postcode district in Morriston and the SA7 postcode in Burchgrove (both Swansea) topped the list in Wales, but the CF64 postcode in Penarth came in a close third.

The study was conducted by the Centre for Economic and Business Research (Cebr).

Steve Rooney, Head of Royal Mail’s Address Management Unit, said: “Royal Mail delivers to the UK’s 29 million addresses, six days a week, connecting communities and businesses. Our study provides unique insight into the most desirable places to live and work in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, through the lens of the postcode.

“The invention of the postcode revolutionised the way post is sorted and delivered. As it has evolved, the postcodes has also revolutionised the way companies do business. The postcode system, with origins dating back more than 150 years, continues to play an integral role in today’s technology-led world.”

Unlike England and Scotland - where the most desirable postcodes to live and work are concentrated in certain areas - the top ten Welsh areas are dotted all around the country from seaside towns to outer city suburbs. The earliest planned industrial village in Wales, Morriston in Swansea, proves to be the most desirable due to its mix of low unemployment and reasonable house prices.

Top ten most desirable postcode districts in Wales

1. SA6 – Morriston, Swansea

2. SA7 – Birchgrove, Swansea

3. CF64 – Penarth

4. SA61 – Haverfordwest

5. SA4 – Gorseinon, Swansea

6. LL55 – Caernarfon, Gwynedd

7. SA9 – Ystradgynlais, Swansea

8. SA31 – Carmarthen

9. CF24 – Roath, Cardiff

10. LL11 – Wrexham

Five facts about the postcode

• There are around 1.8 million postcodes across the UK, covering over 29 million addresses. In total, there are 48 million postcodes available under Royal Mail’s alpha-numeric system

• The combination of letters and numbers was chosen because people can remember a mixture of numbers and letters more easily than a list of numbers and it gives more code combinations

• Optical recognition machines read the postcodes and automatically convert them to phosphor dots. These are in turn read by the sorting machines which handle correctly addressed, post-coded letters 20 times faster than manual sorting

• On average one postcode covers 17 residential addresses

• Royal Mail’s online Postcode Finder is one of the UK’s most used webpages with around 100,000 visits a day – more than 40 million a year

Top ten most desirable postcode districts in England

1. CH63 – Bebington, Wirral

2. IP5 – Kesgrave, Ipswich

3. LA15 – Dalton-in-Furness, Cumbria

4. NR8 – Taverham, Norfolk

5. FY6 – Poulton-Le-Fylde, Blackpool

6. DT1 – Dorchester, West Dorset

7. WA1 – Warrington, Cheshire

8. CH62 – Eastham, Wirral

9. CH45 – Wallasey, Merseyside

10. LA13 – Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria

Top ten most desirable postcode districts in Scotland

1. G78 – Neilston, East Renfrewshire

2. G64 – Torrance, East Dunbartonshire

3. G66 – Lenzie/Kirkintilloch, East Dunbartonshire

4. G62 – Milngavie, East Dunbartonshire

5. G76 – Eaglesham, East Renfrewshire

6. G61 – Bearsden, East Dunbartonshire

7. G46 – Giffnock, East Renfrewshire

8. EH5 – Granton, Edinburgh

9. EH7 – Edinburgh central/Bellevue

10. EH11 - Edinburgh

Top five most desirable postcode districts in Northern Ireland

1. BT64 – Craigavon, County Armagh

2. BT10 – Finaghy, Belfast

3. BT66 – Lurgan, County Armagh

4. BT16 – Dundonald, Belfast

5. BT38 – Carrickfergus, County Antrim