I'm UK too!
In fact, I am only 25 minutes drive from Blackpool!
One of the very first things I ever did in SH3 was to check out my "home" area, and I was a tad disappointed to see NO Blackpool, NO Preston, and an unrecogniseable Liverpool!
However....that was "vanilla" SH3 a couple of years ago. Since I discovered NYGM and GW, then finally GWX.....I found that there is so much more to SH3 that missing bits of my local coast have become irrelevant!
I still enjoy sinking convoys around Liverpool Bay when not on an "official" Patrol!
Cheers
Dave