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I've just started watching the BBC series Sherlock on Netflix. In the first 5 episodes, we've noticed that Sherlock and Watson always refer to long distances in miles rather than kilometers. It was my understanding that, since they are in the U.K., distances would be measured in kilometers. Is there something I'm missing?

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The UK’s usage of the metric system is a mixed bag. Here’s a somewhat brief overview:

Travel

  • Large distances are measured in miles, with yards for shorter ones
    • For athletics, metres and kilometres are used
  • Speed is miles per hour, or mph
  • Fuel is purchased in litres
  • Fuel efficiency is measured in miles per gallon (1), or mpg
  • The space within a car will be given in litres

Around the home

  • Weather is almost always discussed in Celsius
  • The sizes of rooms will be given in both square foot and square metres
  • Computer and TV screens are given in diagonal inches
  • Standard sizes of fitted furniture (for example, kitchen units) are measured in millimetres.
  • Paper is A sizes (A4 being the most common), which are metric.
  • Beds (well, mattresses) are measured in feet and inches, and given names, including single (3’ x 6’3”), small double (4’ x6’3”) and Superking (6’ x 6’6”).
  • People will mostly use feet and inches for their height. A few younger people may use centimetres.
  • Depending on age people will use stone and pounds or kilograms for their weight

Food

  • When cooking people will use either grams or ounces, mostly depending on age
  • All food legally has to be sold in grams or millilitres. However...
    • Milk will be sold by the pint(2) (1, 2, 4 and 6 pint bottles) - but be labelled with the respective amount in millilitres too.
      • However, milk alternatives (oat, soya) will be sold in litres
    • Beer is purchased by the pint
    • Wine is purchased in 75cl (750ml) bottles
    • In a bar, a shot is 25ml (and a double is 50ml)
    • Some other miscellaneous products will be a weird number of grams or millilitres - especially products in glass bottles, like vinegar.
    • Steak and burgers will be sold as a number of ounces
  • Not exactly non-metric, but eggs are still sold by the half dozen or dozen. More recently it has been possible to buy packs of 10 or 15 eggs (but I’ve never seen a pack of 5).

Miscellaneous

  • Land is measured in acres or hectares
  • Horse races are measured in furlongs
  • Horses themselves are measured in hands
  • Tools (Allen keys, drill bits) will often come in both metric and imperial sizes - very frustrating!
  • Desk fans come in 6, 9, 12 and 16 inch diameters normally.
  • (1) - a gallon in the U.K. is 4.546 litres
  • (2) - a pint in the U.K. is 20 fluid ounces, or 568ml.
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    Commented Jul 21, 2019 at 12:51
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    – Tim
    Commented Jul 23, 2019 at 16:15
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    @Valorum to be fair when talking about travel, road signs are often (always?) yards if they mention distances not using miles. Heights (under a bridge) will nowadays be in metres not just feet though. A lot of people would say "about a hundred yards", not "about 300 feet", but they are also not likely to say "a quarter of a mile" not "440 yards". Just goes to show how complex the British use of units are.
    – iandotkelly ♦
    Commented Aug 19 at 15:47
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    "there are lies, damn lies and statistics": books.google.com/ngrams/… (switched to British English). Living in the USA I note that literally no-one uses yards here, and road signs will say 1000 ft which I find quite odd.
    – iandotkelly ♦
    Commented Aug 19 at 17:28
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    I'm not disagreeing with you - no-one in the UK is measuring their fence in yards, but road signs being something that are not routinely updated are often in yards.
    – iandotkelly ♦
    Commented Aug 19 at 17:29
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It's a little-known fact that the U.K. is actually one of the few - if not the only - place(s) in Europe that still uses miles to measure distance! The U.K. does use some metric, but it's a bit of a mix, and distance is one of the areas where they're still on the imperial system.

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    Little known fact by who? Everyone in the UK knows this as does, I’m willing to bet, most people in Europe (as the source of a joke, if nothing else). I suspect what you mean by “little known” is most people in America, who are - as a general - famous for having little knowledge of the world outside their own country?
    – Darren
    Commented Jun 29, 2021 at 7:32
  • Americans would not even think to notice this as an 'issue', since they also use miles and it would (Sherlock using miles) would fit their world-view.
    – CGCampbell
    Commented Jun 29, 2021 at 11:37

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