Keighley traders are still fighting to combat customer confusion over the introduction of the metric system earlier this year.

Brussels imposed the metric regulations in January, stating that all loose food items should be sold in kilos instead of pounds and ounces.

But while most Keighley traders are now selling in metric, many of them admit that their customers are not happy about the change.

Paul Whitaker, of Whitaker's Butchers in Keighley Market, said people were simply ignoring the metric measures.

"It's very rare that I get asked for anything in kilos," he said.

"People just aren't interested. I display my prices in kilos because I have to, but customers still ask for two chops or half a pound of mince and I don't think that will change."

Protestors have recently demonstrated outside the Houses of Parliament to bring back imperial measurements. But while many traders are not in favour of the change to metric, they can't afford to change back as they have already had to pay the cost of converting to metric with no help from the Government.

Graham Adamson, who runs his greengrocery business in the market, converted his scales in October so that he was ready for the new regulations.

"We had to be ready," he said. "We were told that we would be shut down if we were still using the imperial system in the New Year."

Even so, Graham still displays his goods with the price per pound, as well as the price per kilo, to help avoid confusion.

"I think a lot of people know what they want and buy by numbers," he said.

"But we give them the conversion and display both prices so that they can see they are not being ripped off."

Despite traders' efforts to help their customers, shoppers are still struggling to get used to the new system.

Robert Hant, 48, is a retired council worker from Keighley. "I don't understand the metric system at all," he said. "I have to rely on them showing both prices for pounds and kilos."

Lionel Marsh, 59, a postal worker in Skipton, said that going metric was a necessary evil. "We have to go metric to fit in with the rest of the world. The trouble is that it's so confusing. People see the price per kilo and still think it's the price per pound," he said.

Elsie Pickles, 85, of Haworth, avoids the confusion by buying products pre-packed. She said: "If it's pre-packed you know how much you have to pay and what you're getting for your money. That way you don't have to worry about the price per kilo or pound, you just know that four apples are costing you 63p."

But the confusion over metrication isn't just apparent in the food market, it has also affected the textile trade.

Material now has to be sold in metres and centimetres, instead of yards, feet and inches, and according to Margaret Eardley, owner of the Rowan House Textiles Curtain stall in the market, it is causing all sorts of confusion for her customers.

"People still want to work with yards and inches and just aren't interested when you try to tell them how it converts," she said.

"They just want to make their purchase and go. One customer even said to us, 'I don't want anything to do with metres other than my gas meter and electric meter' - and that sums it up really."

But what many people seem to be unaware of is that there is nothing to stop traders from trading in or displaying prices for imperial measurements.

Graham Hebblethwaite, divisional manager for West Yorkshire Trading Standards Department, said: "People can still ask for goods in imperial measures, and traders can still display the price in imperial measures, as long as they display the metric equivalent."

"I understand people being worried by metrication but it has been happening gradually for years. We recommend that everyone uses the metric system because in the long term people will have forgotten how the imperial system worked."