Locale demographic reports

An introduction to the UK postcode system

The United Kingdom postcode system is hierarchical in form, consisting of postcode areas, postcode districts and postcode sectors. The Locale system stores counts from the 1991 Census at the lowest level of postal aggregation (the postcode sector) and sums counts for catchments defined in terms of whole or partial postcode areas and districts and whole postcode sectors.

Postcode Areas

There are 121 postcode areas, such as 'AB', in Great Britain each containing on average 200,000 households.

Postcode Districts

There are around 2,500 postcode districts, such as 'AB54', in Great Britain each containing on average 10,000 households.

Postcode Sectors

There are around 9,000 postcode sectors, such as 'AB54 6', in Great Britain each containing on average 2,000 households. Postcode sectors are the smallest units, in terms of both geographic extent and the household count, that can be used to define a Locale catchment.

Locale Catchment Definition

Locale allows the user to define a catchment consisting of a mixture of whole or partial postcode units down to sector level.

Once the catchment has been defined the system produces a Locale report, detailing usually resident population, age and sex breaks, ethnicity and other demographic information from the 1991 Census. A Super Profiles geodemographic report can also be created, detailing the number of households falling within each of the Lifestyle and Target Market categories of the Super Profiles discriminator.

Counts for the catchment can be indexed against base counts for the whole of the United Kingdom, constituent nations (England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland), other administrative units such as Government Standard Regions or - if the catchment is stored on our server - against each other.

If a higher degree of spatial resolution is required, Business Geographics can produce Locale Reports based on catchments defined in terms of Enumeration Districts (small areas containing around 150 households). Other boundary sets that can be used to define a Locale catchment include:

  • Parliamentary Constituencies
  • Euro-Parliamentary Constituencies
  • District Health Authorities
  • Regional Health Authorities
  • BARB overlapping TV reception areas
  • ISBA non-overlapping TV reception areas
  • Independent Local Radio (ILR) and BBC Radio reception areas
  • Drive-time isochrones
  • If you need to define a catchment in terms of any of these geographies send mail to:

    info@geoweb.co.uk

    The Locale team will respond with detailed instructions on how to proceed.


    1991 Census data is © Crown Copyright.

    The Locale system is © Copyright Business Geographics Limited. All rights reserved, 1995.