The holly and the ivy

As we make our final Christmas preparations, our latest report reveals that more than 50,000 addresses across the UK keep the festive feel going all year round.

Our address management unit analysed over 30 million addresses to evaluate the impact that the season of goodwill has had on the naming of our nation’s addresses. 

The subject of many a festive ditty – the humble holly and ivy - are muses for the largest number of Christmas-related street and house names (over 16,000 in total). There are more than 3,000 ‘Ivy Cottage’ addresses alone across the UK, accounting for 1% of all of our fair isle’s named houses.

However, many other yuletide customs – including chestnuts, snowmen and mistletoe – have also inspired many a moniker for a British address, ranging from ‘Mistletoe Lane’ in Shepton Mallet to ‘Chestnut Brae’ in Craigavon.

The most popular Christmassy terms for UK addresses, and our most ‘festive postcodes’ are as follows:

Neighbouring, chiefly rural, postcode areas Norfolk, Ipswich and Peterborough each constitute a place in the nation’s top ten ‘Festive Hotspots’; with over 1,000 addresses apiece stretching from ‘Carol Close’ in Norwich to ‘Chestnut Crescent’ in Peterborough.

Some of the most festive (and left of field!) monikers for addresses include ‘Christmas Pie Avenue’ in Guildford, ‘Bethlehem Road’ in Llandeilo and ‘Elf Cottage’ in Cornwall.

Steve Rooney, head of our address management unit, said: ‘Street, house and building names chiefly reflect our nation’s heritage and primary interests. The enduring spirit of Christmas clearly extends well past 25 December in the UK, as so many festive terms are clearly resonant in the names of our streets and houses.’