The news of the U-turn was hailed as "fantastic news" by Neil Herron, campaign director of the Metric Martyrs Group in England.

"Someone has finally executed an ounce of common sense," Herron told AFP news agency.

The European Union executive said British and Irish pubs could go on serving beer in pints after 2009, when such measures are due to be phased out. Britain can also continue to use miles on road signs and speed limits and to weigh gold in troy ounces.

Greengrocers will also be able to display weights in pounds and ounces alongside metric ones. This is a reversal of a ban introduced in 2000.

Posthumous pardon for imperial grocer?

The Metric Martyrs are now pressing for a posthumous pardon for grocer Steve Thoburn of Sunderland who was given a six-month conditional discharge for selling fruit and vegetables in pounds and ounces instead of kilograms.

He died of a heart attack in 2004 days after learning his appeal to the European Court of Human Rights against the conviction for using non-metric scales in his shop had been rejected.

British Science and Innovation Minister Ian Pearson also welcomed the news. "This shows that the Commission has listened to our views and recognized the strong arguments that we've made for maintaining dual metric and imperial labeling and the right for the UK to decide on the future use of pints and miles," he said.

EU Industry Commissioner Günter Verheugen said in a statement that extending the dual system "sends a clear signal to our US counterparts that the EU favors a trading environment free of barriers."

"This proposal honors the culture and traditions of Great Britain and Ireland, which are important to the European Commission," he added.

Acre has been sacrificed

The acre will not, however, be resurrected. The commission said this measure was no longer used for land registration in either Britain or Ireland and would be repealed. And Ireland has already switched its road signs to kilometers and meters.

The British government set up the Metrication Board in 1969 and initially set a target date of 1975 by which time the system was meant to be largely in place.

But it has always been opposed by many, despite -- or perhaps because of -- the fact that the system is more logical than imperial measures. In Britain, the popular press has long portrayed the European Union as a soulless, technocratic force that runs roughshod over local traditions and customs.