You would be forgiven for thinking this was the end of the story, but it was not. Unbelievably, Pinoccio-thin posh boy Jacob Rees-Mogg led a campaign for the return of Bath Olivers, and by mid January the bakery conveyers were running again, and Bath Olivers were falling into tins for UK-wide distribution. Supply to the EU would depend on whether anyone had the foresight to fill out the byzantine paperwork.

Chocolate Olivers - Huntley and Palmers

The Bath Oliver has appeared in countless stories and period dramas. Perhaps most famously, poet Ezra Pound speaks in Hugh Kenner’s The Pound Era thusly:

Bath Olivers

One might think that a biscuit as storied and popular as the Bath Oliver would continue to be made until we started counting time in Stardates, but we would be wrong. In October 2020, United Biscuits, who had eventually acquired the rights to make Bath Olivers, folded to the pressures of the COVID-19 pandemic and halted production. A brief production run was executed in December 2020, but as of the beginning of January 2021, commercially produced Bath Olivers were completely unobtainable. On creating the chocolate confection Barry continued: “The Tiffin cake itself was pretty straightforward as the recipe was issued from the Palace, but the extras and decorations were a different story. The McVities’ team and I worked 24/7 for 29 straight days to make sure we made something spectacular, and that met Prince William and Kate’s brief.” During World War 2, Royal archivists hid the most valuable parts of the British Crown Jewels in a Bath Oliver tin in a vault deep below Windsor Castle.

Christmas Archives - Huntley and Palmers Christmas Archives - Huntley and Palmers

Men have witnessed the dinner ceremony on flagships, where the steward still called it ‘claret’ and a Bath Oliver appeared with the cheese.”