Stallholders at Walsall’s Bridge Market have announced that they would like kilograms and gram changed back to pounds and ounces at their market. The decision has come after Asda announced that they will start selling 1lb punnets of strawberries at their supermarkets.
Former chairperson of the Walsall Market Traders’ Association, Karen Sands, who has a fish stall on the market said: “I would say about 90 per cent of our customers ask for things in imperial measurements and all we are trying to do is earn a living and keep our customers happy.
“It would be lovely to have pounds and ounces back on prominent display – it is the British way and imperial measurements should be brought back more into use. At one time the EU even told us we would have to put the Latin names of the fish we sold on price labels but at least that never came in. We try to work with any legislation that is introduced, but at times is can be an absolute nightmare.”
Giovanni Foglia who runs a fruit and vegetable stall on the market, echoed Karen’s views: “As a result of complying with EU rules we have to use bigger cards for our prices as we have to include metric measurements. I am concerned imperial measurements will fade from use because children are not really taught about them in schools.”
Mike Nattrass, local Walsall UKIP MEP has supported the traders’ campaign and said that it would be “sad” if the traditional British measures died out.