In a Home Counties wet fish shop, a family carries on the tradition of selling fish in pounds and ounces -- a natural, human system of weights, not a recently-invented artificial one. They carry on another vital British tradition -- quietly and intelligently resisting foreign powers.

They changed their wet fish shop into a wet fish club. We'll call the shop 'Quayside Fishmongers', though that's not it’s real name. The family is not seeking publicity.

How the scheme works
On the left-hand side of the shop is a notice:
"Fish sold only to members of Quayside Imperial Club". The family will only sell fish to their club members. The shop has hundreds of loyal customers, and already has over 600 members. On boards outside and inside the shop are the prices of an impressive range of wet fish, all given exclusively in pounds, i.e. no prices in kilograms just to confuse you.

How do you join the Quayside Imperial Club?
If you want to buy fish and are not a member, you put your membership fee of 1p in a charity box on the windowsill. You then become a member by writing your name and address in a book, numbered from 000 to 999. You enter your details against the same number as the last three digits of your telephone number (so no-one forgets their membership number!).

It does mean that a few people share the same membership number, but that's a practical point of no importance. Having duly entered your name and address in the book, you are then free to buy some of the best wet fish on sale in the British Isles.

What about customers who don't want to join the Quayside Imperial Club?
There have been two so far. Both have now joined the club since they can't find an alternative supply of good wet fish in the area.

What do the Trading Standards Department make of the scheme?
They don't like it. They came in a few times and issued the usual threats: 'the scales are illegal', 'you'll get a massive fine', 'the law says you've got to price everything in kilos now', 'you'll have huge Court costs to pay', etc. But the family has responded each time with a quiet phrase that has so far stopped the Trading Standards Officers in their tracks: "It’s a Club, not a Shop". TSOs have not been seen in the shop for around a year now.

Is this really legal?
The family has taken advice about their club and they are satisfied that the law does indeed allow them to supply wet fish to a members' club. The advice also suggests that virtually any product could be 'sold' to 'customers' who are a members of a club. It's a way of selling in pounds and ounces that's been running successfully since 1 January 2000, when the government tried to make selling in pound and ounces illegal. That's an impressive 937 days on the date of publication of this leaflet.