RG postcode district map, Reading
Supplier statuses last checked .
The RG postcode area covers 30 districts and 23,816 live postcodes, from RG1 to RG45. It is centred on Reading and also covers Basingstoke, Newbury, Tadley, Bracknell and Woodley.
Districts here average 794 postcodes.
Where the RG districts sit
3 districts are plotted without a label where labels would overlap; every one is in the table below.
Where RG sits
It is administratively fragmented, reaching into Wokingham, Hampshire, West Berkshire and Reading and 4 other authorities.
Water supply across RG
All 30 RG districts are supplied by Thames 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.
Thames Water has a hosepipe ban in force from 23 July 2026, covering the whole of RG.
The shape of the RG area
RG7 is the largest district with 1,519 postcodes around Tadley, and RG28 the smallest with 235. The area divides into 144 postcode sectors.
No single district dominates: the largest holds only about 6 per cent of the area's postcodes.
The numbering is not continuous. RG runs up to 45 but has only 30 districts, so 15 numbers are unused:.
Several districts share a settlement, which is a common source of confusion when a form rejects an address: RG1, RG2, RG4, RG30 and RG31 all point at Reading, RG21, RG22, RG23, RG24 and RG25 all point at Basingstoke and RG5, RG6 and RG10 all point at Woodley.
What borders RG
RG sits next to GU (Guildford) to the south east, SL (Slough) to the east, HP (Hemel Hempstead) to the north east, TW (Sunbury-on-Thames) to the east and OX (Oxford) to the north.
Its neighbours run in 4 different directions, so RG is landlocked by other postcode areas on most sides.
RG districts, settlements and water supply
| District | Principal settlement | Water company | Hosepipe ban status |
|---|---|---|---|
| RG1 | Reading | Thames Water / South East Water / Affinity Water | Depends on your supplier |
| RG2 | Reading | Thames Water / South East Water / Affinity Water | Depends on your supplier |
| RG4 | Reading | Thames Water / South East Water / Affinity Water | Depends on your supplier |
| RG5 | Woodley | Thames Water / South East Water / Affinity Water | Depends on your supplier |
| RG6 | Woodley | Thames Water / South East Water / Affinity Water | Depends on your supplier |
| RG7 | Tadley | Thames Water / South East Water / Affinity Water | Depends on your supplier |
| RG8 | Wallingford | Thames Water / South East Water / Affinity Water | Depends on your supplier |
| RG9 | Henley-on-Thames | Thames Water / South East Water / Affinity Water | Depends on your supplier |
| RG10 | Woodley | Thames Water / South East Water / Affinity Water | Depends on your supplier |
| RG12 | Bracknell | Thames Water / South East Water / Affinity Water | Ban in force |
| RG14 | Newbury | Thames Water / South East Water / Affinity Water | Depends on your supplier |
| RG17 | Hungerford | Thames Water / South East Water / Affinity Water | Depends on your supplier |
| RG18 | Thatcham | Thames Water / South East Water / Affinity Water | Depends on your supplier |
| RG19 | Thatcham | Thames Water / South East Water / Affinity Water | Depends on your supplier |
| RG20 | Newbury | Thames Water / South East Water / Affinity Water | Depends on your supplier |
| RG21 | Basingstoke | Thames Water / South East Water / Affinity Water | Depends on your supplier |
| RG22 | Basingstoke | Thames Water / South East Water / Affinity Water | Depends on your supplier |
| RG23 | Basingstoke | Thames Water / South East Water / Affinity Water | Depends on your supplier |
| RG24 | Basingstoke | Thames Water / South East Water / Affinity Water | Depends on your supplier |
| RG25 | Basingstoke | Thames Water / South East Water / Affinity Water | Depends on your supplier |
| RG26 | Tadley | Thames Water / South East Water / Affinity Water | Depends on your supplier |
| RG27 | Fleet | Thames Water / South East Water / Affinity Water | Depends on your supplier |
| RG28 | Whitchurch | Thames Water / South East Water / Affinity Water | Depends on your supplier |
| RG29 | Fleet | Thames Water / South East Water / Affinity Water | Depends on your supplier |
| RG30 | Reading | Thames Water / South East Water / Affinity Water | Depends on your supplier |
| RG31 | Reading | Thames Water / South East Water / Affinity Water | Depends on your supplier |
| RG40 | Wokingham | Thames Water / South East Water / Affinity Water | Depends on your supplier |
| RG41 | Wokingham | Thames Water / South East Water / Affinity Water | Depends on your supplier |
| RG42 | Bracknell | Thames Water / South East Water / Affinity Water | Ban in force |
| RG45 | Crowthorne | Thames Water / South East Water / Affinity 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 RG
No water company covering RG 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| RG1 | Not published by Thames Water. Check with your supplier. | |||
| RG2 | Not published by Thames Water. Check with your supplier. | |||
| RG4 | Not published by Thames Water. Check with your supplier. | |||
| RG5 | Not published by Thames Water. Check with your supplier. | |||
| RG6 | Not published by Thames Water. Check with your supplier. | |||
| RG7 | Not published by Thames Water. Check with your supplier. | |||
| RG8 | Not published by Thames Water. Check with your supplier. | |||
| RG9 | Not published by Thames Water. Check with your supplier. | |||
| RG10 | Not published by Thames Water. Check with your supplier. | |||
| RG12 | Not published by Thames Water. Check with your supplier. | |||
| RG14 | Not published by Thames Water. Check with your supplier. | |||
| RG17 | Not published by Thames Water. Check with your supplier. | |||
| RG18 | Not published by Thames Water. Check with your supplier. | |||
| RG19 | Not published by Thames Water. Check with your supplier. | |||
| RG20 | Not published by Thames Water. Check with your supplier. | |||
| RG21 | Not published by Thames Water. Check with your supplier. | |||
| RG22 | Not published by Thames Water. Check with your supplier. | |||
| RG23 | Not published by Thames Water. Check with your supplier. | |||
| RG24 | Not published by Thames Water. Check with your supplier. | |||
| RG25 | Not published by Thames Water. Check with your supplier. | |||
| RG26 | Not published by Thames Water. Check with your supplier. | |||
| RG27 | Not published by Thames Water. Check with your supplier. | |||
| RG28 | Not published by Thames Water. Check with your supplier. | |||
| RG29 | Not published by Thames Water. Check with your supplier. | |||
| RG30 | Not published by Thames Water. Check with your supplier. | |||
| RG31 | Not published by Thames Water. Check with your supplier. | |||
| RG40 | Not published by Thames Water. Check with your supplier. | |||
| RG41 | Not published by Thames Water. Check with your supplier. | |||
| RG42 | Not published by Thames Water. Check with your supplier. | |||
| RG45 | 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 RG 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 RG area?
There are 30 RG postcode districts, running from RG1 to RG45, and they contain 23,816 live postcodes across 144 sectors.
What towns does the RG postcode area cover?
RG covers Reading, Basingstoke, Newbury, Tadley, Bracknell and Woodley. The area takes its name from Reading, and each district is listed with its settlement in the table on this page.
Which water company supplies RG postcodes?
Thames Water supplies all 30 RG 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 RG1 and RG2 both say Reading?
RG1, RG2, RG4, RG30 and RG31 all serve Reading, 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 RG postcode map?
Yes. This page offers the RG 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 RG area called Reading when it covers Tadley?
RG takes its letters from Reading, where the sorting office that served the area was based when the code was allocated. Tadley is the largest settlement in the area today, in RG7, but the area code follows the historic sorting geography rather than current population.
Which councils cover the RG postcode area?
RG reaches into Wokingham, Hampshire, West Berkshire, Reading, Oxfordshire, Bracknell Forest, Buckinghamshire and Windsor and Maidenhead. 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.