A WORCESTER pub which has gone head-to-head with Eurocrats over its right to sell beer in litres has landed some heavyweight support in the shape of the British Weights and Measures Association.

The city's Cardinal's Hat pub, which re-opened two months ago as an Austrian bar, was told by Worcestershire Trading Standards this month that it was illegal to serve its beer by the litre or half litre and was told to change to pints instead.

Although Europe sells beer in metric measures, it is forbidden in the UK under EU law, leaving Austrian publicans Andrea Schutz and Anton Limlei in trouble with the department.

Last week, the Metric Martyrs Defence Fund pledged its support to the city pub as well as West Midlands Euro MP Neena Gill.

Today, members of the Leominster branch of the British Weights and Measures Association, Liberal Democrat MEP Liz Lynne and Tory MEP Malcolm Harbour were expected to up the pressure for the Friar Street pub to serve its brews in either pints or litres.

Sunderland greengrocer Neil Herron - the first criminally convicted "Metric Martyr" who will also be in Worcester today - said the amount of support the pub had won demonstrated how ludicrous the situation was.

"This highlights the absurd and hypocritical situation whereby it is a criminal offence to sell bananas by the pound and beer by the litre," he said.

"The joining of the forces on both sides of the argument will highlight what we have argued from the outset. That is freedom of choice for both the retailer and the customer.

"We are not and never have been anti-metric or anti-European, and it is about time the Ministers and officials in Whitehall took control of what has become now an absolute farce worthy of a Monty Python sketch."

The director of human rights organisation Liberty, John Wadham, which has vowed to provide legal support to the publicans if trading standards take action, said the issue was about the freedom to choose.

"It is about freedom of speech in the face of nonsensical and disproportionate use of the criminal law," he said.