UK Postcode to Post Town Names

This instant download contains all UK Postcodes (circa. 1,791,296) and all UK (circa. 1,485) Town Names, as well as the Postcode’s Grid Reference (X&Y Coordinate, and Lat Long).  The Comma Separate Variable (CSV) file is updated quarterly to ensure postcodes remain current, and our clients receive an inclusive complete refresh every three months as part of the service, for no additional fee.

Applications

The Postcode Coordinates data is ideal for relating Postcodes and address information to their geographic location or to check if a postcode is still valid, or formatted within your database correctly. The data is therefore essential for analysing:

• The distribution of customers / suppliers
• The most efficient routes and networks
• Mapping
• Addresses with respect to other geographic features
• Postcode Validations
• Address Corections

Output

Initially you receive one ZIP compressed file that when unpacked will reveal two files: (1) PAF-TWN-UK-CSV-1 containing all live Postcodes and Town names for Postcode Areas AB to LN (circa. 900,828 postcodes); (2) PAF-TWN-UK-CSV-2 containing all live Postcodes & Names for Postcode Areas LS to ZE (circa. 890,074 postcodes).  Comma Separate Variable (CSV) text files with header records will open in any common application including SQL, Word, MS Access and MS Excel.

Fields presented in the files:

• Postcode – e.g. B76 1PH
• Postcode Sector – e.g. B76 1
• Postcode District – e.g. B76
• Postcode Area – e.g. B
• Post Town Name – e.g. Sutton Coldfield
• X Coordinate (394235)
• Y Coordinate (806529)
• Latitude (57.149606)
• Longitude (-2.096916)

Coverage

The Postcode Coordinates data covers the United Kingdom (England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland).

Grid References:

The majority of grid references are derived from the Ordnance Survey product OS MasterMap that contains grid references for each address. Newly introduced postcodes initially have a grid reference that has been imputed by ONS Geography. In due course these are replaced by improved OS MasterMap grid references which use data supplied by Ordnance Survey’s field surveyors.  The grid references provided for Northern Ireland postcodes are derived from the LPS ‘Pointer’ product and use the Irish National Grid system that covers all of Ireland and is independent of the British National Grid. These are then converted to the British National Grid system to ensure consistency across all Postcode records in the file.

Latitude / Longitude:

The degrees latitude and longitude are calculated from the 1 metre grid reference by converting the easting and northing to numeric and then one point shapefile is created for GB using the ‘BritishNatGrid’ coordinate system and another for Northern Ireland using ‘Ireland 1965.ING’.  These files are then projected to GCS_WGS_1984, using an OSGB_1936_to_WGS_1984_Petroleum transformation for GB and a TM75_to_WGS_1984_2 transformation for NI. Latitude and longitude are then calculated from the resulting x and y co- ordinates.

No geographic coordinates are provided for postcodes in the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man.

Licensing

Downloads are supplied as licensed products, allowing unlimited reuse of the file content for 12 months.    You may cancel the licence at any time without penalty.  The licence fee you pay covers the considerable effort taken to compile and update the product, including our manual correction and verification, and finally verification against the latest Royal Mail and Ordnance Survey databases. On or before the 11th month, we will write to you, offering to extend the licence for a further 12 months or to let it expire.

Updates

As part of the fee paid, we will automatically send you a full product file refresher every 3 months for no additional fee.  This will ensure the postcodes and associated content remains current.

Guarantees

We have developed internal quality processes to help ensure the data you purchase is fit for purpose.  If you are for some reason not satisfied with the data or our work, we offer a no quibble refund in exchange for your feedback.