Another way to improve the SQL Query to avoid union?

Question

User can search by Postcode (eg: L14, L15, L16) or Location from a textbox.

If user type in \"Liverpool\", it will find all the shops that are located in \"Liverpool

Answer 1

Whatever you choose, be aware that short code is not always optimal code. In many cases, where you have sufficiently divergent logic, unioning the results really is the most optimal (and sometimes most clean, programatically) option.

That said, the following OR in the WHERE clause seems to cover both your cases...

SELECT DISTINCT
  shops.*,
  DA.delivery_cost,
  DA.postcode AS AreaPostcode
FROM
  shops
INNER JOIN
  shops_delivery_area as DA
    ON (DA.shop_id = shops.id)
WHERE
  (DA.postcode = "Liverpool")
OR
  (DA.postcode = shops.postcode AND shops.location = "Liverpool")