BR postcode district map, Swanley
Supplier statuses last checked .
The BR postcode area covers 8 districts and 6,781 live postcodes, from BR1 to BR8. It is centred on Swanley and also covers Warlingham.
Districts here average 848 postcodes.
Where the BR districts sit
Where BR sits
It falls across Greater London and Kent.
Water supply across BR
All 8 BR districts are supplied by Thames Water. That makes BR simple in a way many areas are not: one company, one set of rules, one status to check.
Thames Water has a hosepipe ban in force from 23 July 2026, covering the whole of BR.
The shape of the BR area
BR1 is the largest district with 1,262 postcodes around Swanley, and BR4 the smallest with 372. The area divides into 36 postcode sectors.
District by district: BR1 serves Swanley, BR2 serves Warlingham, BR3 serves Warlingham, BR4 serves Warlingham, BR5 serves Swanley, BR6 serves Swanley, BR7 serves Swanley and BR8 serves Swanley.
Several districts share a settlement, which is a common source of confusion when a form rejects an address: BR1, BR5, BR6, BR7 and BR8 all point at Swanley and BR2, BR3 and BR4 all point at Warlingham.
What borders BR
BR sits next to SE (City of London) to the north west, DA (Dartford) to the north east, CR (Warlingham) to the south west, SM (Ewell) to the west and EC (City of London) to the north west.
Its neighbours run in 4 different directions, so BR is landlocked by other postcode areas on most sides.
BR districts, settlements and water supply
| District | Principal settlement | Water company | Hosepipe ban status |
|---|---|---|---|
| BR1 | Swanley | Thames Water / South East Water | Ban in force |
| BR2 | Warlingham | Thames Water / South East Water | Ban in force |
| BR3 | Warlingham | Thames Water / South East Water | Ban in force |
| BR4 | Warlingham | Thames Water / South East Water | Ban in force |
| BR5 | Swanley | Thames Water / South East Water | Ban in force |
| BR6 | Swanley | Thames Water / South East Water | Ban in force |
| BR7 | Swanley | Thames Water / South East Water | Ban in force |
| BR8 | Swanley | Thames Water / South East Water | Ban in force |
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 BR
No water company covering BR publishes hardness figures as open data. The gap is named per district below so you know who to ask.
| District | Hardness | As published | Supply zone | Published by |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| BR1 | Not published by Thames Water. Check with your supplier. | |||
| BR2 | Not published by Thames Water. Check with your supplier. | |||
| BR3 | Not published by Thames Water. Check with your supplier. | |||
| BR4 | Not published by Thames Water. Check with your supplier. | |||
| BR5 | Not published by Thames Water. Check with your supplier. | |||
| BR6 | Not published by Thames Water. Check with your supplier. | |||
| BR7 | Not published by Thames Water. Check with your supplier. | |||
| BR8 | Not published by Thames Water. Check with your supplier. | |||
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 BR 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 BR area?
There are 8 BR postcode districts, running from BR1 to BR8, and they contain 6,781 live postcodes across 36 sectors.
What towns does the BR postcode area cover?
BR covers Swanley and Warlingham. The area takes its name from Swanley, and each district is listed with its settlement in the table on this page.
Which water company supplies BR postcodes?
Thames Water supplies all 8 BR 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 BR1 and BR5 both say Swanley?
BR1, BR5, BR6, BR7 and BR8 all serve Swanley, 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 BR postcode map?
Yes. This page offers the BR 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.
Which councils cover the BR postcode area?
BR reaches into Greater London and Kent. 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.
How many postcode sectors are in BR?
BR contains 36 postcode sectors across its 8 districts. A sector is the district plus the first digit of the second half of the postcode, and it is the level a delivery round is actually planned around.