Wrath oliver
Angry biscuit fans win return of beloved Bath Oliver snacks
BISCUIT makers are bringing back the 270-year-old Bath Oliver after crunch talks – and protests led by Commons leader Jacob Rees-Mogg.
Furious snackers had threatened to boycott the likes of McVitie’s Ginger Nuts and Hobnobs in protest at production of their top treat being halted last year.
Fans including Mr Rees-Mogg – a renowned Hobnobber – took to Twitter to plead for the return of the Bath Oliver.
The thin biscuit is popular with cheese lovers and is named after its creator Dr William Oliver, an 18th century physician in the Georgian city of Bath, Somerset.
Mr Rees-Mogg, the Tory MP for North East Somerset, wrote: “Please would
Pladis Global bring them back, they are the best British biscuit.”
Now Pladis, owners of United Biscuits, has vowed the biccies will return.
Dr Oliver was founder of the Royal National Hospital for Rheumatic Diseases in Bath. He invented the biscuit – made from flour, butter, yeast and milk – as a slimming aid for gout-suffering patients who came to the spa city to take the waters.
When the biscuits vanished, fans set up a Bath Oliver Preservation Society urging people write to their MP. Backing a United Biscuit boycott, it said: “Not a crumb shall touch our mouths until we see our anointed biscuit returned.”
Pladis says a staff shortage at its factory in Aintree, Liverpool, meant not all brands could be baked for a while.
But a firm spokesman said: “We’re pleased to report production of Bath Oliver continues as usual. Covid-19 has presented a supply chain challenge to all food manufacturers and availability of Bath Olivers has been limited. We thank all our dedicated fans for their patience as we get them back on shelves.” stephen.hayward@
mirror.co.uk