The British pint is safe forever after the European Commission announced a policy U-turn on Tuesday.
The European Union executive said British and Irish pubs may go on serving beer in pints after 2009, when such measures were due to be phased out.
After consulting industry and consumers, the Commission gave an indefinite reprieve from the legal obligation to use metric units for milk in returnable bottles and beer and cider on draught in response to widespread public hostility.
“This proposal … honours the culture and traditions of Great Britain and Ireland, which are important to the European Commission,” EU Enterprise Commissioner Guenter Verheugen said in a statement.
A government spokeswoman called the decision “good news for British industry and international trade” and said it was the result of close work between London and Brussels.
