BH postcode district map, Bournemouth
Supplier statuses last checked .
The BH postcode area covers 26 districts and 15,253 live postcodes, from BH1 to BH31. It is centred on Bournemouth and also covers Christchurch, Poole, Wimborne Minster, Ferndown and Ringwood.
Districts here average 587 postcodes.
Where the BH districts sit
8 districts are plotted without a label where labels would overlap; every one is in the table below.
Where BH sits
It falls across "Bournemouth, Dorset and Hampshire.
Water supply across BH
All 26 BH districts are supplied by Bournemouth Water, which is notable at this size: an area with this many districts usually crosses at least one supply boundary, and this one does not.
We are re-checking Bournemouth Water's status. It was last confirmed on 18 August 2026 as no restrictions, and until it is confirmed again this page does not assert a current position for it.
The shape of the BH area
BH23 is the largest district with 1,592 postcodes around Christchurch, and BH3 the smallest with 130. The area divides into 98 postcode sectors.
The numbering is not continuous. BH runs up to 31 but has only 26 districts, so 5 numbers are unused:.
Several districts share a settlement, which is a common source of confusion when a form rejects an address: BH1, BH2, BH3, BH4, BH5, BH8, BH9, BH10, BH12 and BH13 all point at Bournemouth, BH14, BH15, BH16 and BH17 all point at Poole and BH6, BH7 and BH23 all point at Christchurch.
What borders BH
BH sits next to SP (Salisbury) to the north, SO (Southampton) to the north east, DT (Dorchester) to the west, PO (Portsmouth) to the east and BA (Bath) to the north west.
Its neighbours run in 5 different directions, so BH is landlocked by other postcode areas on most sides.
BH districts, settlements and water supply
| District | Principal settlement | Water company | Hosepipe ban status |
|---|---|---|---|
| BH1 | Bournemouth | Bournemouth Water / Wessex Water | Depends on your supplier |
| BH2 | Bournemouth | Bournemouth Water / Wessex Water | Depends on your supplier |
| BH3 | Bournemouth | Bournemouth Water / Wessex Water | Depends on your supplier |
| BH4 | Bournemouth | Bournemouth Water / Wessex Water | Depends on your supplier |
| BH5 | Bournemouth | Bournemouth Water / Wessex Water | Depends on your supplier |
| BH6 | Christchurch | Bournemouth Water / Wessex Water | Depends on your supplier |
| BH7 | Christchurch | Bournemouth Water / Wessex Water | Depends on your supplier |
| BH8 | Bournemouth | Bournemouth Water / Wessex Water | Depends on your supplier |
| BH9 | Bournemouth | Bournemouth Water / Wessex Water | Depends on your supplier |
| BH10 | Bournemouth | Bournemouth Water / Wessex Water | Depends on your supplier |
| BH11 | Ferndown | Bournemouth Water / Wessex Water | Depends on your supplier |
| BH12 | Bournemouth | Bournemouth Water / Wessex Water | Depends on your supplier |
| BH13 | Bournemouth | Bournemouth Water / Wessex Water | Depends on your supplier |
| BH14 | Poole | Bournemouth Water / Wessex Water | Depends on your supplier |
| BH15 | Poole | Bournemouth Water / Wessex Water | Depends on your supplier |
| BH16 | Poole | Bournemouth Water / Wessex Water | Depends on your supplier |
| BH17 | Poole | Bournemouth Water / Wessex Water | Depends on your supplier |
| BH18 | Wimborne Minster | Bournemouth Water / Wessex Water | Depends on your supplier |
| BH19 | Swanage | Bournemouth Water / Wessex Water | Depends on your supplier |
| BH20 | Wareham | Bournemouth Water / Wessex Water | Depends on your supplier |
| BH21 | Wimborne Minster | Bournemouth Water / Wessex Water | Depends on your supplier |
| BH22 | Ferndown | Bournemouth Water / Wessex Water | Depends on your supplier |
| BH23 | Christchurch | Bournemouth Water / Wessex Water | Depends on your supplier |
| BH24 | Ringwood | Bournemouth Water / Wessex Water | Depends on your supplier |
| BH25 | New Milton | Bournemouth Water / Wessex Water | Depends on your supplier |
| BH31 | Verwood | Bournemouth Water / Wessex Water | Depends on your supplier |
Principal settlement is the town or city each district sits in or nearest to, derived from OS Open Names. It is not the Royal Mail post town, which is licensed data and not published openly. Status is resolved live from each company’s own notice.
Water hardness in BH
Figures are in milligrams per litre as calcium carbonate, the unit UK water companies report in. 9 of 26 districts have a published figure.
| District | Hardness | As published | Supply zone | Published by |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| BH1 | Not published by Bournemouth Water. Check with your supplier. | |||
| BH2 | Not published by Bournemouth Water. Check with your supplier. | |||
| BH3 | Not published by Bournemouth Water. Check with your supplier. | |||
| BH4 | Not published by Bournemouth Water. Check with your supplier. | |||
| BH5 | Not published by Bournemouth Water. Check with your supplier. | |||
| BH6 | Not published by Bournemouth Water. Check with your supplier. | |||
| BH7 | Not published by Bournemouth Water. Check with your supplier. | |||
| BH8 | Not published by Bournemouth Water. Check with your supplier. | |||
| BH9 | Not published by Bournemouth Water. Check with your supplier. | |||
| BH10 | Not published by Bournemouth Water. Check with your supplier. | |||
| BH11 | Not published by Bournemouth Water. Check with your supplier. | |||
| BH12 | 299.7 mg/l That is hard on the water industry scale. | 299.7 mg/l as CaCO₃ | E01015392, E01015393, E01015444 | Wessex Water 2022-2025 edition |
| BH13 | 310 mg/l That is hard on the water industry scale. | 310 mg/l as CaCO₃ | E01015404 | Wessex Water 2022-2025 edition |
| BH14 | 303.2 mg/l That is hard on the water industry scale. | 303.2 mg/l as CaCO₃ | E01015440, E01015441, E01015452, E01015455 +4 more | Wessex Water 2022-2025 edition |
| BH15 | 302.8 mg/l That is hard on the water industry scale. | 302.8 mg/l as CaCO₃ | E01015424, E01015425, E01015426, E01015427 +10 more | Wessex Water 2022-2025 edition |
| BH16 | 298.4 mg/l That is hard on the water industry scale. | 298.4 mg/l as CaCO₃ | E01015429, E01015430, E01020409, E01020469 +6 more | Wessex Water 2022-2025 edition |
| BH17 | 294.4 mg/l That is hard on the water industry scale. | 294.4 mg/l as CaCO₃ | E01015407, E01015409, E01015411, E01015412 +8 more | Wessex Water 2022-2025 edition |
| BH18 | 205.7–305.1 mg/l varies across this district | 281.9 mg/l as CaCO₃ | E01015395, E01015396, E01015397, E01015398 +12 more | Wessex Water 2022-2025 edition |
| BH19 | 283.8 mg/l That is hard on the water industry scale. | 283.8 mg/l as CaCO₃ | E01020466, E01020468, E01020478, E01020479 +4 more | Wessex Water 2022-2025 edition |
| BH20 | 303 mg/l That is hard on the water industry scale. | 303 mg/l as CaCO₃ | E01020465, E01020467, E01020476, E01020477 +9 more | Wessex Water 2022-2025 edition |
| BH21 | Not published by Bournemouth Water. Check with your supplier. | |||
| BH22 | Not published by Bournemouth Water. Check with your supplier. | |||
| BH23 | Not published by Bournemouth Water. Check with your supplier. | |||
| BH24 | Not published by Bournemouth Water. Check with your supplier. | |||
| BH25 | Not published by Bournemouth Water. Check with your supplier. | |||
| BH31 | Not published by Bournemouth Water. Check with your supplier. | |||
Descriptions such as very soft, soft, moderately hard, hard, very hard are the water industry scale: very soft below 75, soft 75–125, moderately hard 125–250, hard 250–375, very hard above 375 mg/l. Your supplier may use a different scale for the same number.
Contains Wessex Water drinking water quality data, via Stream, licensed under CC BY 4.0. Edition 2022-2025, published 1 January 2025.
Hardness is published per census area, not per postcode, so these figures characterise a district rather than measuring one address. They are a scale and taste matter, not a safety one. Hardness data version wessex-water@2022-2025+yorkshire-water@2026.
Download the BH data
No signup, no email wall. GeoJSON carries the district points, the supplier and the live status, so it can be dropped straight into a map.
District positions are averaged postcode centroids from OS Code-Point Open. They show roughly where a district sits, not where its boundary runs, and are not legal boundaries.
Frequently asked questions
How many postcode districts are in the BH area?
There are 26 BH postcode districts, running from BH1 to BH31, and they contain 15,253 live postcodes across 98 sectors.
What towns does the BH postcode area cover?
BH covers Bournemouth, Christchurch, Poole, Wimborne Minster, Ferndown and Ringwood. The area takes its name from Bournemouth, and each district is listed with its settlement in the table on this page.
Which water company supplies BH postcodes?
Bournemouth Water supplies all 26 BH districts. Supply boundaries follow the pipe network rather than postcode geography, so confirm against your water bill if you are near the edge of the area.
Why do BH1 and BH2 both say Bournemouth?
BH1, BH2, BH3, BH4, BH5, BH8, BH9, BH10, BH12 and BH13 all serve Bournemouth, covering different parts of it. A single town routinely needs more than one postcode district once it passes a few thousand delivery points, so this is normal rather than an error in an address.
Can I download a free BH postcode map?
Yes. This page offers the BH districts as GeoJSON, CSV and SVG, free and with no signup or email address required. The GeoJSON carries each district's position, its water company and its current restriction status, so it can be dropped straight into a mapping tool.
Why is the BH area called Bournemouth when it covers Christchurch?
BH takes its letters from Bournemouth, where the sorting office that served the area was based when the code was allocated. Christchurch is the largest settlement in the area today, in BH23, but the area code follows the historic sorting geography rather than current population.
Which councils cover the BH postcode area?
BH reaches into "Bournemouth, Dorset and Hampshire. A postcode area is not a council area: they were drawn for different purposes and a single district can sit across a council boundary, so your postcode does not tell you which authority you pay.