Now is the time of year when flies become a menace, so it is necessary to replenish one’s supplies of bug spray.

Yesterday when wandering the isles of the OneBeyond shop on King Edward Street, I came across an interesting sight on the household aisle: A selection of bottles of Jeyes Fluid, in two different types. The type on the left was in plastic bottles while the type on the right was in metal. While they were clearly the same product, the labelling had been completely redesigned. What struck me most was that the metal bottles bore a royal warrant, while the plastic did not. Looking closer I saw that the inscription said “BY APPOINTMENT TO HM THE QUEEN” and that the armorial achievement was that of the sovereign undifferenced, with St Edward’s Crown. Clearly the warrant was to the Elizabeth II, rather than to her successor.

Elizabeth died in 2022 and all such warrants issued in her name expired in 2024. The Royal Warrant Holders’ Association maintains a list of holders, which is periodically republished with updates. I found this one from April 2023 which showed Jeyes still among the late sovereign’s suppliers, but this one from April 2026 does not list them. Evidently Charles III did not renew the agreement. This must have come as quite a blow to the company, as they are said to have had a warrant since 1896.

The company’s own website still displayed the royal arms as late as 20th March 2025, but had dropped them by 24th April. Strangely, on the bottle itself the manufacture date is given as 15th April 2025 — long after the warrant should have ceased to be used.

The placement of these two types of the same product adjacent is a little strange. I suppose the shop must have had some older bottles still in stock (and still in date), or perhaps acquired them when another store threw them out. This is typical of the business model of hard discount chains like this.

Incidentally, I did not find any fly spray, and had to buy it from the Home Bargains store on the other side of the road instead.