Which University do Lucy and David attend? This is never clarified in the book because some of the characters hold identifiable positions within the university, such as the Vice-Chancellor, and it might be claimed – wrongly – that the book is about particular individuals. However, in order to keep the story realistic, I had in mind a description which would parallel the town of St Andrews and its University as a model for the story, because, having lived there as a postgraduate research student (like David), it is the university town with which I am most familiar.
Some of the locations in the story, such as South Street, Market Street and New Hall, have the same names as those in St Andrews. However, most of the names of streets and cafés have been changed, although it is often easy (at least for students and residents of the town) to identify parallel locations within the town. The following is a list of names which have a twin in St Andrews:

Canon’s Tower (in the grounds of the ruined cathedral);
Elder Hall;
Maidenhead Café;
Spey Street;
Stat (the fortnightly student newspaper);
Whitefriars Garden;
Wane Ringer Cade scholarship (it's an anagram!);
West Gate Bar.
Other parallels to St Andrews are to be found in the descriptions of the following:
The geography of the town, with cliffs and a ruined cathedral to the north-east;
The science campus;
The pier;
The ruined cathedral.