How many address fields would you use for a UK database?
The Post Office suggests (http://www.postoffice.co.uk/portal/po/content1?catId=19100182&mediaId=19100267) 7 lines:
- Addressees Name
- Company/Organisation
- Building Name
- Number of building and name of thoroughfare
- Locality Name
- Post Town
- Post Code
They then say you do not need to include a County name provided the Post Town and Postcode are used.
The BSI have BS 7666 - that covers all addressing. I recommend you look there.
The 2000 version recommends
An address shall be based upon a logical data model comprising the following entities:
- addressable object, with sub-types:
- primary addressable object;
- secondary addressable object;
- street;
- locality;
- town;
- administrative area, a.k.a. district;
- county;
- postcode.
See: http://landregistry.data.gov.uk/def/common/BS7666Address
I don't know whether this is minimal (I doubt it) but the heading on my cheque book says something pretty close to:
Lloyds TSBIsle of Man Offshore CentrePeveril BuildingsPeveril SquareDouglasIsle of ManIM99 0XXUnited KingdomThis causes fits when I try to enter it into the US banking system.