A FLOOD of foreign beers could soon be sampled in East Lancashire pubs if Eurocrats haul the Government before the EU court.

Britain has been urged to abolish its rules which restrict the sale of guest beers in UK pubs.

The European Commission claims the ban on the sale of draught beers which have not been brewed according to traditional British methods is discriminatory and a disguised restriction on trade.

The 1989 legislation allows pub tenants to sell guest beers rivalling those produced by the brewery to which they are tied, but only as long as they had been fermented according to the traditional cask-conditioning method.

But the European Commission says the secondary fermentation method is unique to the UK and breaches the free-trading rules of the single European market.

The campaign follows complaints by importers of German and other continental draught lagers which do not qualify as cask-conditioned. These include the Bavarian Brewing Company in Whalley, which is run by businessman Andrew Ronnan.

But the EC threat is expected to cause outrage among brewers and drinkers.

A spokesman for the Brewers and Licensed Retailers Association said Britain imported £230 million of beer from the European Union, more than any other country.

A spokesman for Thwaites brewery in Blackburn said he endorsed the views of the BRLA.

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