The UK doesn't want the Imperial system back.

[Clint]

I can't see the point but last year they changed most of the 30mph to 20mph signs in Wales within a week cost I heard was £600,000! Dunno if that's right.
In metric countries what amount of beer do you ask for and what do you get?

 

[AJA]

I can't see the point but last year they changed most of the 30mph to 20mph signs in Wales within a week cost I heard was £600,000! Dunno if that's right.
In metric countries what amount of beer do you ask for and what do you get?

In my experience of Europe and SE Asia you get a small and a large, of mostly undisclosed volume.

 

[TonyT]

But if it "makes sense to standardise" in terms of miles why does the same logic not apply to pints ? Standardisation is not in and of itself a benefit, it is just a thing. Benefits are the things that standardisation would deliver......

Personally I am sceptical that reducing a bit of confusion around bridge heights etc would warrant such a disruptive change (which I suspect is why no serious politician proposes this) but of course each to their own. Maybe I was wrong, and that nearly 1 in 5 people would support such a change after all ?! keen to hear from others......

I think retention of pints in pubs is more of a cultural thing, spirits in the UK have been sold in metric measures for years. And in Canada many places still offer a sixteen or twenty ounce pint despite having been metric for decades.

 

[Sorcerers Apprentice]

Plus does the pint glass include head space or not , a lot of craft bars in ireland have snuck in the 400ml "pint" glass, so it looks like a pint but it's 168 mls short of a pint but priced at the same price or slightly dearer than a macro genuine pint

 

[AJA]

Plus does the pint glass include head space or not , a lot of craft bars in ireland have snuck in the 400ml "pint" glass, so it looks like a pint but it's 168 mls short of a pint but priced at the same price or slightly dearer than a macro genuine pint

It does include headspace, but I've never known an establishment in the UK fail to top up a short pint when asked, even Sam Smith's

 

[AJA]

It does include headspace, but I've never known an establishment in the UK fail to top up a short pint when asked, even Sam Smith's

In the UK you can be sold 1/3, 2/3, half, and pints (or multiples of halves if you wanted 2.5 pints for example).
So I guess that would standardise to 200ml, 275ml 400ml and 550ml. But that's guessing.

Of course wine and spirits are already standardised in metric. Spirits used to be 1/6 gill or 1/4 gill ( 23.7ml or 35.5) which were standardised to 25ml and 35ml (although establishments can't use both)

 

[Sneedhearn]

And in Canada many places still offer a sixteen or twenty ounce pint despite having been metric for decades.

That's true, beer is sold in 12oz, 16oz or 20oz but they seem to package it as a glass, a sleeve or a pint. In my experience based on a few trips to British Columbia if you don't specify you'll be served a sleeve.

 

[Bosch]

I can't see the point but last year they changed most of the 30mph to 20mph signs in Wales within a week cost I heard was £600,000! Dunno if that's right.
In metric countries what amount of beer do you ask for and what do you get?

In Ireland you ask and get a pint

 

[Sorcerers Apprentice]

It does include headspace, but I've never known an establishment in the UK fail to top up a short pint when asked, even Sam Smith's

I've seen both , some have a pint fill line , others have a 568 ml volume, which doesn't include the head space

 

[Sorcerers Apprentice]

https://barequipment.ie/product/nonic-activator-pint-glasses-ce/

 

[Agentgonzo]

Quarter pound burgers would also need renaming......

Have you not seen Pulp Fiction? They're called a "royale"

 

[MattH1973]

Have you not seen Pulp Fiction? They're called a "royale"

how do you think I knew ? - great movie ! "Check out the big brain on Brett...."

 

[Northern_Brewer]

But if it "makes sense to standardise" in terms of miles why does the same logic not apply to pints ? Standardisation is not in and of itself a benefit, it is just a thing. Benefits are the things that standardisation would deliver......

Well it's always a tradeoff, isn't it? There's usually economies of scale in standardisation, to be offset against the need to change the existing "fleet" (of road signs or beer glasses or whatever). I guess the Irish thing is driven in part by the fact that their only land border is with the UK who drive on the right, but their cars used to come mostly from the UK but now come from Japan (RHD but metric), as a small country they want their cars to be as "standard" as possible rather than being "custom" (which always costs more). And the authorities are always wary of aftermarket changes to key systems like speedos and mileage recording.

There's an interesting example in pubs - not on the bar but in the cellar, where you can have containers measured in three different systems. The likes of Heineken and Carlsberg have driven the adoption of metric for lager kegs (typically 50l and 100hl) and that's now more or less universal for macro lager, a move helped by the fact they are almost exactly the same as 11g and 22g but also eg all their HMRC paperwork is in litres. But casks are stubbornly imperial, because almost nobody else has cask beer so it doesn't really affect any other country if casks come in non-metric sizes. But newer formats like bag in box and key kegs have gone with metric from the start. And then you have US kegs like sixtels...

As I say, it would be helpful if draught beer could be served in litres, to allow us to access the economies of scale of Maß glasses from Europe, that are cheaper than the custom 2-pint ones made specially for the UK market.

 

[dad_of_jon]

What’s wrong with abolishing miles? And why do you think it would be so disruptive? As I said previously in relation to decimalisation of the money, it caused a few moans and grumbles but people still got used to it.

Distances would 'seem' further to travel , yet you get there sooner than you think as a KM is shorter.

 

[dad_of_jon]

I can't see the point but last year they changed most of the 30mph to 20mph signs in Wales within a week cost I heard was £600,000! Dunno if that's right.
In metric countries what amount of beer do you ask for and what do you get?

In Finland .3 .4 or sometimes .5 of a litre

being pedantic 33cl of beer is almost a litre but not quite so working out the price per litre is always a tad out. and 440 is 33% more so thats even harder to price in litres. Wine (750ml) - divid by 3 multiply by two.

Metric is great but there are still some 'strange' sizes beverages are sold in.

 

[An Ankoù]

being pedantic 33cl of beer is almost a litre but not quite so working out the price per litre is always a tad out. and 440 is 33% more so thats even harder to price in litres. Wine (750ml) - divid by 3 multiply by two.

What?

Three lots of 33cl are almost a litre.
Half a litre (500 ml or 50 cl) is 0.88 of a pint so you could say half a litre is nearly a pint and considering how often a pint is poured short, it probably is what passes for a pit in many boozers.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

When telling the time do members say *1/4 past 2 or 2:15?
*1/2 past - 1/4 to

 

[Rodcx500z]

Horse racing what is a furlong in metric or a chain

 

[An Ankoù]

There are 201.168 metres in a furlong and there are 10 chains in a furlong.
201.168 is so close to 200 that it seems fair to speculate whether it wasn't once a metric measurement and the latter have now been defined with greater precision. Or it might just be coincidence.

 

[Tanglefoot]

Funny how on site everyone still orders sheet materials and lengths of timber in feet and inches but then cut them up to metric measurements.

I find imperial easier for making rough mental calculations/estimates but for fine accuracy metric works better.