Nicholas Goodwin

Goodness, I never thought I'd end up talking 50 years on about Eisel medicated toilet rolls.

Why was it a standard feature in your family home then?

My mother got a sales job with Sterling Health, who sold Isle toilet paper.

She would go around to the local co-op and take orders for stock.

The problems were often, if the shelves were empty, she had to fill them up as well.

And so therefore, we carried around the boot of the car boxes of Isle toilet paper, which of course smelt.

So the car smelt.

And it was just that ongoing smell that just never went away.

I'm sitting here now thinking, goodness,

How did people ever buy that?

Just tell us how.

Wasn't the plan.

I joined Jay's as an accountant in the mid-80s.

I thought I was joining a consumer goods business with lots of exciting products and so on, realizing later that actually Jay's was all about toilet care.

So Jay's wanted to own everything around the toilet, and naturally, toilet rolls fitted with that.

Therefore, having Eisel was a crucial part of that overall portfolio.

It wasn't very good, I'm afraid.

Nowhere near as attractive as I would have liked.

But I think, again, it was the fact that actually you didn't want to discontinue it because...

You had a consumer base who took it personally.