Does an Inn in a Dangerous Area Count as Town?

Last session, my players found the Sign of the Broken Head, a fortified inn located just ouside the crumbling northern wall of the ruins of Arden Vul.  And one of them asked if it counted as Town.  And my answer was "sometimes, sometimes not."  I should elaborate.

In most fantasy RPGs, Town is where PCs get to exchange money for goods and services, and otherwise interact with NPCs in a relatively safe environment.  I'd say the minimum standards for a place to count as Town are:

• You can rent a reasonably safe and comfortable place to sleep.
• You can buy food and drink.
• You can buy at least basic equipment, like rope and torches.
• You can find training for at least basic skills.
• You can use various abstract skill rolls to brew potions or carouse for rumors or maybe earn some money.
• You can get magic items identified, curses removed, and wounds healed.
• You can sell stuff.
• You can meet new PCs and hire hirelings.

Of course there may be levels to all these things.  A better Town could have better equipment available, more esoteric trainers, the cash to buy more expensive items, access to the really good healing like Resurrection, sages or libraries to give bonuses to Research rolls, etc. 

In this campaign, Gosterwick qualifies as Town.  It's not a completely abstract safe zone: it has a name, it has businesses and NPCs with names, and things can happen there.  But it has the basics.  It even has a few features that not all Towns in all games have, like banking and caravans.

The Sign of the Broken Head definitely isn't a full Town.  It's just a small fortified inn on a dangerous map.  So:

• There is one private room.  If it's available, you can rent it, but it's expensive.  If it's not, you can sleep in the shared bunkroom, unless that's full too.  If they're out of bunks, they'll rent you a spot on the dining room floor.
• You can buy beer or ale, brewed on site.  It's actually good, but expensive.
• You can buy whatever kind of food they have available that day, but it's expensive and there will not be much selection, as they have to carry most of the food up the Long Stair on mules.
• There may or may not be any traders at the Inn that day.  If there are any, you can buy what they have, at the prices they ask.  There will not be a lot of selection, as they have to carry their wares up the Long Stair on mules.
• Finding trainers is unlikely.
• It's too small a place for most Town skill rolls, but there's beer and ale, so Carousing is a possibility.
• Magical and divine services look unlikely, but who knows?  Estelle was wearing a holy symbol of Tychias.

The one surprising thing at this Inn was not one but three different merchant factors, competing to buy statues from the ruins.  So there does appear to be some economic activity beyond selling beer.

The PCs decided to go back to Gosterwick this week, rather than staying at the Broken Head.  We'll see if they keep doing that consistently, or if they start varying where they sleep.  That could get complicated if it splits the party.