"A PINT of best mild and a packet of pork scratchings please." "Certainly sir - that'll be 2.57 euros."

It is unlikely a conversation along those lines will be heard at the bar of an East Lancashire pub within the next couple of years - at least not until the euro notes and coins come into circulation.

Britain has still not decided whether or not to sign up for the new euro currency - a move which would eventually see the pound and the penny disappear.

But most other European countries have taken the plunge and are running the euro alongside their own francs and marks. And the new currency is already having some impact in East Lancashire.

Many local businesses - particularly those involved in import and export - are using the euro on a daily basis. Some European customers and suppliers expect firms they deal with to quote and invoice prices in euros and those that don't risk losing the business.

The actual euro notes and coins won't be introduced for at least 12 months but when they are, European visitors to East Lancashire will expect to be able to spend the euro in shops, restaurants and pubs.

With tourism a growth industry in the local economy it is an important issue to get to grips with. Many companies have already begun gearing up for tourists carrying euros.

The Red Pump in Bashall Eaves was one of the first pubs in the North West to get a till, designed by Uniwell Systems of Blackburn, to take the new currency.

Landlord John Fisher, who has run the pub on Clitheroe Road with wife, Alison, for the last six years, said: "It has proved a real talking point among the customers. "The younger ones seem to think the euros are an excellent idea and natural progression, but the older customers have been grumbling - they say they're only just getting used to decimalisation!"

Banks reported a fairly quiet start to the euro's first week.

"We've opened one new euro account so far and we've had a few inquiries about exchange rates," said David Lewis of the Barclays' Burnley-based business banking team.

"But it is early days yet and I think many people are watching and waiting to see what happens. Obviously, if Britain does decide to sign up to the euro that will change things quite dramatically."

One of the bank's customers, GAP International, is already prepared for dealing in euros.

The Blackburn firm, which manufactures and distributes auto electrical components, exports around 50 per cent of its turnover - half of it into continental Europe. "None of our customers has actually asked us to start quoting in euros but it is something I think will be expected from us and something which our competitors will be doing," said Gordon Chadwick, managing director.

"We will basically just treat it like another currency. We already quote in dollars for some customers anyway.

Many firms which deal internationally have had to ready themselves for the euro but shopkeepers appear to have done little to prepare for the new currency.

"I think the majority of traders here probably won't be affected by it that much - at least not in the near future," said Rita Wakeley of Blackburn and District Chamber of Trade.

"We are not a borough which gets an awful lot of foreign visitors. But the euro is certainly something we will be looking at as a Chamber in the future and offering members advice and help." Although the currency is already having an impact in East Lancashire, the row over whether Britain should sign up to it fully rages on.

Secretary of the East Lancashire branch of anti-euro Democratic Movement, Graham Cannon of Burnley-based Worms Eye site investigations, believes signing up would be disastrous.

Mr Cannon said: "So many people you speak to in East Lancashire and elsewhere are very sympathetic to our aims. But they tend to be apathetic and think the issue is above them and is something which is happening far away and over which they have no say."

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.