Britons Want Their Pounds--and Not Euros, Kilos or Grams

LONDON — The popularity of Britain’s “Save the Pound” campaign seems to be catching on--in more ways than one.

While Euroskeptics are urging British voters to hang on to their beloved currency, efforts to get Britons to embrace the Europe-wide metric system--and reject the pound as their nation’s unit of weight--are taking, well, a pounding.

When Britain joined the European common market more than two decades ago, it accepted that its trading partners used metric units and began to change its system of measures gradually to avoid ruffling British feathers.

Britain began selling gasoline and prepackaged food in liters and grams, but there was resistance on other goods, such as loose fruits and vegetables.

In a final push to comply with European Union directives that all common market transactions must be in metric measurements by 2000, Parliament enacted its own law in January ordering all goods to be priced and sold in metric units.

Most supermarkets and grocers complied, but Britain’s largest supermarket chain, Tesco, announced last month that it would return to pounds and ounces because more than half its customers simply don’t understand the metric system.

Shopper Mary Conroy, 37, is one of them. She learned imperial weights in school and doesn’t see why she should give them up.

“If pounds and ounces are what you’ve learned and what you’ve been using your whole life, it’s hard to force the change,” she said, although she conceded that “the metric system is a much more logical one.”

Tesco first suspected that there was a problem when employees noticed that online customers seemed to be ordering unusually large amounts of food--5 kilos of broccoli (11 pounds) and 9 kilos of potatoes (nearly 20 pounds). The store decided to conduct a survey: 87% of customers asked to estimate the weight of a bag of apples gave their answer in pounds, and 53% said they found the metric system confusing.

“We discovered that customers think in imperial measurements,” said Tesco spokesman Simon Soffe. “If they are glancing at price posters in the stores, they don’t want to be converting figures in their head. Customers were getting confused.”

Facing government threats to take the company to court, Tesco maintains that it is not breaking the law with its oversized posters advertising prices in pounds because it also displays prices per kilo and conducts all sales in metric measurements.

Tesco’s rebellion comes at a time when British support for the EU in general is at an all-time low, with only one in four voters considering membership in the regional body to be a good thing.

According to a poll conducted by the European Commission, the EU’s executive body, in May and June, British support for joining the common European currency, the euro, also has fallen sharply, to just 22%.

Britons still want their pounds and their pounds--not kilos and euros--and not directives from Brussels.

“The [EU] has been making rules about pounds and ounces for as long as I can remember,” said Satish Chandarana, the manager of a small fruit and vegetable shop in central London. “The regulations make it difficult for our customers, who are being forced to change against their will.”

Greengrocer Neera Soni complained that bulk fruits and vegetables are still largely sold to retailers in pounds and that it falls to busy shopkeepers to make the conversions to kilos--so that customers then can ask what the prices mean in pounds.

“It is unfortunately the case that EU legislation dictates how we sell our goods,” Soni said. “But I appreciate that there is a bigger picture you have to look at, and we are just a small part of that.”

Some shoppers recognize the risk of resisting change. Patricia Jackson, 55, said she thinks that shunning the metric system will prevent Britain from being a full-fledged member of the European community.

“I think England should go along with the rest of the European Union,” she said. “It’s not that difficult to do.”

And other supermarkets are making the change. Sainsbury’s, Britain’s second-largest chain, uses only metric measurements. Spokesman Matt Samuel says this appears to be sufficient because the store hasn’t had any complaints or loss of business since Tesco reintroduced imperial weights.

“As far as we can tell, customers are happy with what they are getting,” Samuel said.

“I think if our customers were unhappy, they would let us know.”