End of the British Crown Pint. A sad day for Britain and those pubs across the Commonwealth that still proudly advertise the Imperial Pint. (See Wikipedia pint glass under "other countries")That's it. That's just royally friggin it! The EU is now stealing the crown off the great British pint, in order to bring the pint glass into "European Conformity". Can you believe this? Brussel's stealth bureaucrats can mess with a lot of things, but they're messing with tradition when they mess with our English ale. I'm not kidding around here. Like everything else, they think they can just slip this one under the radar as well.
I can't wait to hear what the Campaign for Real Ale will say of this nonsense. Surely oh surely they have gone too far this time. This is a matter of national pride. This is a matter of protecting our three-hundred year old tradition of the pint glass, a uniquely calibrated amount of beer certified under United Kingdom Crown law:
For more than 300 years, the stamp of the crown on top of a pub glass has stood as a guarantee that it is big enough to deliver a full pint. But this British tradition has now fallen victim to the extension of the EU's tentacles into national life and the demise of UK manufacturing. Critics fear the loss of the crown will be followed by the loss of the pint itself, with British drinkers being required to switch to continental metric measures.
Ever since 1699, successive governments have found it necessary to measure and certify the pint and half-pint glasses made and used in this country. The rules, which were intended to assure suspicious beer drinkers that they were not being given short measures, meant a crown and certification number was printed on each glass. However, the EU is introducing a standard European-wide system for guaranteeing the size and safety of glasses.
Consequently, the new glasses now appearing in British pubs and bars carry a CE mark - which, in French, stands for ‘European Conformity'. The loss of the crown is further evidence that the EU's grip on the nation's weights and measures is tightening.
Good God, what next? Really, what else is there?
ReplyDeleteBy the way, that's imperial as in not metric. Thought I should clear that up.
ReplyDeletePalmerston
i hate the EU, they are the scum of the earth
ReplyDeleteThis has nothing to do with the EU telling us we can't put crown stamps on our glasses.
ReplyDeleteThere is stillone stamping office in the UK which will continue to stick a crown on the very small number of pint glasses being made in the UK.
The reason for the demise of the crown on the pint glass is that we just don't make them in Britain any more. Most pint glasses now come from the Czech republic, which stamps glasses according to the EU standard.
The loss of the crown stamp is the result of the decline of UK manufacturing not EU legislation. If you are looking to blame someone, you need to look beyond Brussels.
That's just stupid. It seems like the EU should spend more time on doing more important stuff than deciding whether or not the English pint is a valid unit of measure. And besides, they can't tell you what to print on your glasses.
ReplyDelete