A GREENGROCER will have to fork out hundreds of pounds to convert to kilos after weighing up a high court decision.

Alan Reddy, who runs a fruit and veg stall in Macclesfield Indoor Market, will have to spend £800 on new scales, to comply with European law.

And he will have to rewrite all his signs to give kilos prominence over pounds.

Following the defeat of the 'metric martyrs' Alan has resigned himself to the fact that pounds and ounces are officially on their way out.

But he knows his customers think the ruling is bananas and will probably blow a raspberry at the European Union.

He said: "Everybody asks for pounds and hardly anyone asks for kilos. In fact no-one asks for kilos. It wouldn't surprise me if people kept asking for pounds."

The 'martyrs' ended up in court after selling bananas by the pound instead of the kilo.

They appealed but judges upheld the original decision, meaning goods will have now have to be sold by the kilo.

Mr Reddy said he would have to change all his signs to show kilos prominently and pounds and ounces in much smaller writing at the bottom.

In 2010 pounds and ounces will be banned altogether.

"There's no point in fighting it," he said. "It's going to be a lot more work until everybody gets used to it."

But one customer who thinks the fight should definitely carry on is Nick Woods.

Mr Woods, who lives in Macclesfield, is a member of the British Weights and Measures Association which has been campaigning against metrication for many years.

He said: "I have been reading the papers avidly to see what happens.

"I am absolutely disgusted and sickened that the metric martyrs lost their case.

"But I don't think it is the end of the road. They can take it to the House of Lords."

Mr Reddy thinks elderly people will get confused and the public may even stop buying fruit and veg because they may appear more expensive.

"If the signs are in kilos it would make things look like they have doubled in price and makes everything seem more expensive," he said.

He will try to put individual prices on many things such as peppers and cauliflowers but said this would be impossible for most things.

But he recognises that metrication is progress.

"We always seem to be last behind Europe. It's like decimalisation," he said.