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Best way to find someone's address with partial postcode?

Sorry if this is the wrong place to post this question, wasn't quite sure where to post it.
I randomly bumped into an old high school friend when I was out for dinner a couple days ago. He's one of these people that doesn't do social media or smartphones, so he's hard to keep in touch with. He didn't have his "dumb-phone" on him and my battery was dead, so he scribbled his details down on a napkin and I was going to get in touch when I got home. 
Unfortunately, I got caught in a downpour and as you've probably guessed, the napkin didn't fare well and is in quite a number of unreadable bits
All I can remember is his name, City, and the first half of his postcode. Is there a way to find his address?
I know 192.com is an option but I only want to search this one person and they sell credits in 5s. Is there a cheaper/free way to do this or 192 the best?


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  • Ksw3
    Ksw3 Posts: 376 Forumite
    Third Anniversary 100 Posts Name Dropper
    edited 14 December 2023 at 3:52PM
    https://www.royalmail.com/find-a-postcode

    You could try here, might take a while. Depends what bits you have left. 

    ETA without a house number might be tricky
  • theartfullodger
    theartfullodger Posts: 15,514 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    edited 14 December 2023 at 3:55PM
    Try find them on social media...then ask
  • Brie
    Brie Posts: 13,812 Ambassador
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    You could try the phone book.  Sounds like the sort that might still be listed.  Or electoral register??

    Find a Person | The Phone Book from BT

    I think the electoral register is available through local libraries so you might need to ring up somewhere to see if they can assist.  

    Another place is to ask via social media - not that your friend is on there but someone who is might know him and be able to pass a message along.
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  • The first part of the postcode is going to give you a very large area, so honestly I don't think you stand much chance other than joining local Facebook groups for that area and asking if anyone knows the person. 
    If you had the first bit and the first number then you have narrowed it down to a much smaller area and it might be easier.
  • Alternatively, if the place you bumped into him was the place you dined at, is it possible he's a regular or reasonably well known customer there? You could try asking if you could leave a message for him with your contact details.
    Never take a stranger's advice. Never let a friend fool you twice.
  • Eldi_Dos
    Eldi_Dos Posts: 2,078 Forumite
    Fifth Anniversary 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    akira181 said:
     He's one of these people that doesn't do social media or smartphones, so he's hard to keep in touch with. He didn't have his "dumb-phone" on him 


    His wife may do social media so you could check there.
  • Alternatively, if the place you bumped into him was the place you dined at, is it possible he's a regular or reasonably well known customer there? You could try asking if you could leave a message for him with your contact details.
    or if he made a reservation there assuming he potentially left a phone number/email, you can ask them to pass on your information to him using such. 
  • silvercar
    silvercar Posts: 48,956 Ambassador
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Academoney Grad Name Dropper
    Does your high school have an alumni office? They may be willing to pass on a message. 
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  • Just a thought, I found a friend I had lost who didn't have social media a decade ago, by Facebooking her sister. You know the surname, as long as it's not something like Jones, can you recall any family members names? 
    Message them on Facebook. 
  • akira181
    akira181 Posts: 538 Forumite
    Tenth Anniversary 100 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    edited 15 December 2023 at 9:07AM

    Thanks for the suggestions. He's got no siblings and I don't know who his partner is, only met her for the first time just there. Only got her first name, a lot of search results on FB, but none of them look like her, assuming she's even on there. Think I have a bigger chance with the partial postcode. Got the first 4 digits of the postcode and maybe the 5th. It’s either a 2 or a 7. Or an 8 with really bad handwriting. So maybe not the 5th digit ☹ I was gonna go visit him this weekend but that’s going to be difficult now!

    I’ve asked around our mutual friends and no-one has seen him for at least a decade. The last anyone heard, he moved to the middle of nowhere to work on some conservation project and dropped off everyone’s radar after that. 

    Our high school was some backwater school that was run by mostly alcoholic teachers. The 80s and 90s were a different time! Consistently ranking near the bottom of the league tables for as long as I can remember eventually got it shut down and the building demolished in the late 2000s. They were definitely not committed or organised enough to have an alumni office!

    Unfortunately, he's only back for Christmas so he's not a regular anywhere that I know of. The restaurant normally only asks for a name when making a booking, but I’ll try my luck, maybe he left a number, and they can pass along my details.

    I think the electoral register is why 192.com has a result and only one result, but I thought that would require me to go to his local council office to view. If I can view at my local library, that would be a lot easier and preferable to paying £16 for 6 credits when only one is needed.

    Failing that, £16 it is. Thanks!

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