Pints or Litres, Who Cares?

[mcgillianaire]

Nic Davison, an accountant and owner of Kuchnia Polska (lit: Polish Kitchen) restaurant in Doncaster, has been served an infringement notice by the Trading Standards Institute, that threatens a court appearance and a £2,000 fine, for using metric instead of imperial measurements. According to the 1988 Weights and Measures (Intoxicating Liquor) Order, serving draught beer and cider in litres is illegal. Interestingly, none of Davison's customers have complained about the fact that he serves Polish beer (delivered from its country of origin) in 0.3 litre and 0.5 litre glasses (also delivered by the same Polish brewer). Davison has decided not to go down without a fight. Ironically, he has enlisted the support of Metric Martyrs, a group of formerly anti-metrication British food sellers, who now seem to believe traders should be allowed to sell goods in any measurement. The whole shebang takes place after a long-running campaign by the EU to force Britain to abandon its imperial booze addiction. By all accounts they have decided to give up, just as they did with the Euro...

Personally, I agree with Mr Davison. They're barmy laws and it needs to be sorted out. In the meanwhile Davison and his partner (who co-owns the restaurant) have 28 days to change all of their glassware or face prosecution. Interestingly, the same legislation classifies shandy as a soft drink and should therefore be sold in litres. Go figure! (Links: 1, 2, 3)