Most of the settings in The Evil And The Pure are based on real places. For instance, The King's Head, Gawl's local pub, was a real pub back in 2000, when the book is set -- it was my grandfather's favourite pub, and I had a few boozy nights in there myself before it shut for business. It's since been turned into a betting shop, having been a furniture shop for a while before that. Here's a pic of it in its current incarnation.
Darren Dash