UK Alias Addresses

The Alias address format is identical to the Postcode Address File format.

Alias addresses are alternate representations of a UK address found on the main Address File. Typically these are:

• House name additions on numbered properties (e.g. Rose Cottage at 2 High Street)
• Business name additions for companies operating from home (Jones Plumbing at 2 The Avenue)

Alias addresses are extracted from Royal Mail's Alias file to supplement the Postcode Address File. They are not required for delivery purposes.

Please make an enquiry about enabling this dataset on your API Key.

Alias address results carry the pafa dataset label.

dataset string

Dataset

Indicates the provenance of an address.

Example pafa

Enum

• "pafa"

Native Record

native object

Native Record

The raw dataset record backing an address, exactly as the dataset supplies it. One schema per dataset; dataset on the record says which.

The Royal Mail PAF record backing a pafa address, with the alias applied. Alias data holds alternative address details the public uses when addressing mail, which are not required for delivery.

This is the parent delivery point, not the alias row: the alias text replaces the building name, organisation name or department name, so those three fields carry the alias and the rest is the parent PAF record. The alias row's own columns (alias_text, category, currency) are not yet returned. id is the parent UDPRN plus a hash of the alias text, since a delivery point can carry several aliases.

Fields shared by every Royal Mail PAF family native record (paf, mr, nyb, pafa, pafw).

The Royal Mail record as held in Postgres, before any derived fields are added. Formatted lines, premise, postcode parts, geocodes, UPRN and county fields belong to the address, not to the native record. dataset is the one field not taken from Royal Mail.

Two values differ from the raw PAF file: post_town is title cased (Royal Mail supplies it upper cased), and a building_number of 0, PAF's sentinel for "none", is returned as an empty string.

Example Record

Field	Example	Type
dataset	pafa	string
postcode	SW1A 1AA	string
post_town	London	string
dependant_locality	Empty in this example	string
double_dependant_locality	Empty in this example	string
thoroughfare	The Mall	string
dependant_thoroughfare	Empty in this example	string
building_number	1	string
building_name	The Old Post Office	string
sub_building_name	Empty in this example	string
po_box	Empty in this example	string
department_name	Empty in this example	string
organisation_name	Empty in this example	string
udprn	90000001	number
postcode_type	S	string
su_organisation_indicator	Empty in this example	string
delivery_point_suffix	1A	string

Every field is documented below.

dataset string

Example pafa

Enum

• "pafa"

postcode string

Postcode, space separated

Example SW1A 1AA

post_town string

Royal Mail post town, title cased

Example London

dependant_locality string

Dependant locality. Empty string when not present

Example Empty in this example

double_dependant_locality string

Double dependant locality. Empty string when not present

Example Empty in this example

thoroughfare string

Street name

Example The Mall

dependant_thoroughfare string

Dependant street name. Empty string when not present

Example Empty in this example

building_number string

Building number. Empty string when not present, or when PAF merges it into the building name

Example 1

building_name string

Building name. Empty string when not present

Example The Old Post Office

sub_building_name string

Sub building name. Empty string when not present

Example Empty in this example

department_name string

Department name within an organisation. Empty string when not present

Example Empty in this example

organisation_name string

Organisation name. Empty string when not present

Example Empty in this example

udprn integer

Unique Delivery Point Reference Number

Example 90000001

postcode_type string

Postcode type.

• S Small user
• L Large user
• "" where Royal Mail supplies none

Example S

Enum

• "S"
• "L"
• ""

su_organisation_indicator string

Small user organisation indicator. Y where the small user postcode is held by an organisation

Example Empty in this example

delivery_point_suffix string

Royal Mail delivery point suffix

Example 1A

po_box string

PO Box number. Empty string when not present

Example Empty in this example