final court of appeal.

Grape Bay Ltd is almost certain to go to the Privy Council in a bid to have a controversial ruling outlawing fast food with a foreign flavour overturned.

Grape Bay Ltd -- controlled by former Premier Sir John Swan and now-Home Affairs Minister Maxwell Burgess -- has until next Monday to decide to appeal against the Court of Appeal ruling banning the firm from selling Big Macs in Bermuda.

It is understood, however, that Grape Bay is set to instruct its lawyers to take the case all the way.

Yesterday, Mark Diel of Hamilton law firm Diel and Myers, who represents Grape Bay, was staying tight-lipped over his client's plans.

He said: "I'm still waiting for instructions.'' Grape Bay Ltd has to seek leave to appeal to the Privy Council from the Island's Court of Appeal -- which overturned an earlier Supreme Court decision giving the firm the go-ahead to open up McDonald's for business on Constitutional grounds.

But -- even if formal leave is not granted -- the argument can still be taken to London, as the Privy Council is obliged to hear appeals on Constitutonal issues.

Failure to get official approval for an appeal, however, is generally regarded as weakening a case.

The Court of Appeal took Big Macs off the menu in Bermuda on June 1 in a 19-page written judgement.

The move came after Solicitor General William Pearce QC appealed against an earlier Supreme Court decision giving McDonald's in Bermuda the go-ahead.

Puisne Judge Vincent Meerabux ruled in Supreme Court that the Prohibited Restaurants Act -- signed into law last August -- should be overturned because contracts between Grape Bay, McDonald's and others were property and were protected under the Constitution.

But the Court of Appeal said that -- although "letters of intent'' held by Grape Bay were property and that the firm had been deprived of property under the Act -- the law should be reinstated. The three-judge Court of Appeal under Sir James Astwood decided unanimously that it had not been proved that Grape Bay had been deprived of their property without compensation.

The Privy Council will be the final chapter in a long-running saga which began two years ago.

A rebel group of Government MPs led by backbencher Ann Cartwright DeCouto pushed the Prohibited Restaurants Act through Parliament in 1996 with support from the Opposition Progressive Labour Party.

Senate, however, used its powers to block the Act for 12 months. But the rebels brought the legislation back to the House and won another vote, which meant Senate had no further right to block it.