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UK Postcode Lookup

Find the place and region for a UK postcode.

How it is calculated

A UK postcode has two halves. The first, the outward code (here M1), is an area letter group plus a district number and sometimes a letter, such as SW1A. The second, the inward code, is a digit followed by two letters (1AE) and narrows the address down to a few properties. The tool removes spaces, makes the text upper case, and if the input ends in digit-letter-letter, drops those last three characters to get the outward code. It then looks that outward code up in a bundled place dataset and shows the outward code, the place name and the region. It does not locate individual streets or houses, and an outward code not in the data gives no result.

Worked example

Enter M1 1AE. Spaces removed and upper-cased: M11AE. It ends in digit-letter-letter (1AE), so the last three characters are dropped, leaving the outward code M1. The lookup returns the place Manchester in the region Greater Manchester.

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Common mistakes

  • Expecting the exact street or house. The lookup covers the outward code only, which is a district of many streets.
  • Mixing the letter O with the digit 0, or I with 1. Postcodes never contain the letter O in the inward part.
  • Entering an Irish Eircode. Ireland uses a separate system, so it is not found; Channel Islands and Isle of Man codes such as JE2 or IM1 are covered.
  • Cutting the code in the wrong place by hand. The inward part is always the last three characters, so SW1A 1AA has the outward code SW1A, not SW1.

About this calculator

UK postcodes follow a structured format — an outward code (like SW1A or M1) identifying the postcode area and district, and an inward code (like 1AA) narrowing it to a specific street or building group. This lookup matches a full postcode or just the outward code to its place name, county or unitary authority, and region, based on Royal Mail's postcode geography.

Because outward codes alone map to a town or district (SW1A = Westminster, London; M1 = Manchester city centre), the lookup also works for quick "which city is this postcode in" checks without needing the full address.

E-commerce and logistics teams validating shipping addresses, customer service reps confirming a caller's location, UK-based sales and marketing analysts segmenting by region, and anyone receiving an unfamiliar postcode who wants to know where it actually is all use this tool.

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Comments (1)

  • Editorial team

    The place name is a reference point for the outward code, not the postal town of every address in it. SW1A, for instance, returns Westminster Abbey in Greater London. Only the part before the final digit and two letters is looked up, so the last three characters of a full postcode make no difference to the result. If a valid outward code returns nothing, post it here so the gap in the data can be noted.

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