Crown stamps

UKIP MEP demands traditional stamps on UK pint glasses

By Daniel Woolfson

- Last updated on GMT

Bill Etheridge MEP: crown stamp "not a throwback"
Bill Etheridge MEP: crown stamp "not a throwback"

Related tags United kingdom

The UKIP Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for the West Midlands has called for the return of traditional British crown stamps on pint glasses. 

MEP and Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) member Bill Etheridge said the EU-wide CE mark, which replaced the 300-year-old crown stamp in 2007, stood for “European conformity”.

He said: “All drinkers remember the crown mark, knowing that it guaranteed them a full pint, indeed there are still some around.”

Opponents to EU mark

Opponents of the CE mark’s introduction also included JD Wetherspoon chairman Tim Martin and former Punch chief executive Giles Thorley.

Etheridge said: “Reintroduced gradually, as replacements, they are not a throwback to a nostalgic era, but a move to put us back in control of the production and specifications of our own pint.”

It was important the country’s manufacturers began to look at returning to British standards as the UK’s exit from the EU loomed, he added.

'Return to era'

“Any nostalgia should be to return to an era when British standards set the agenda and were respected throughout the world,” he said.

“Once we are free to make our own trade deals again, [manufacturers] will be at the forefront of our sales pitch.”

Recently elected UKIP leader Paul Nuttall previously authored Last Orders?​, a lengthy booklet on the 'decline of the British pub' containing the party's manifesto for the trade.

Related topics Beer Legislation

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