diff --git a/doc/release/1.15.0-notes.rst b/doc/release/1.15.0-notes.rst
index b76b68a19d62..4c6c184096a1 100644
--- a/doc/release/1.15.0-notes.rst
+++ b/doc/release/1.15.0-notes.rst
@@ -89,6 +89,12 @@ longer possible, and objects expecting the old API are respected. The silent suc
 by removing the interception of an otherwise-normal Exception when ``axis`` was provided to an object
 using the old API.
 
+unstructured void array's ``.item`` method now returns a bytes object
+---------------------------------------------------------------------
+``.item`` now returns a ``bytes`` object instead of a buffer or byte array.
+This may affect code which assumed the return value was mutable, which is no
+longer the case.
+
 
 C API changes
 =============
diff --git a/numpy/core/src/multiarray/arraytypes.c.src b/numpy/core/src/multiarray/arraytypes.c.src
index 5e6804a5cba3..42f8761250a3 100644
--- a/numpy/core/src/multiarray/arraytypes.c.src
+++ b/numpy/core/src/multiarray/arraytypes.c.src
@@ -655,9 +655,7 @@ VOID_getitem(void *input, void *vap)
 {
     PyArrayObject *ap = vap;
     char *ip = input;
-    PyArrayObject *u = NULL;
     PyArray_Descr* descr;
-    int itemsize;
 
     descr = PyArray_DESCR(ap);
     if (PyDataType_HASFIELDS(descr)) {
@@ -731,68 +729,7 @@ VOID_getitem(void *input, void *vap)
         return (PyObject *)ret;
     }
 
-    /* 2017-11-26, 1.14 */
-    if (DEPRECATE_FUTUREWARNING(
-            "the `.item()` method of unstructured void types will return an "
-            "immutable `bytes` object in the near future, the same as "
-            "returned by `bytes(void_obj)`, instead of the mutable memoryview "
-            "or integer array returned in numpy 1.13.") < 0) {
-        return NULL;
-    }
-    /*
-     * In the future all the code below will be replaced by
-     *
-     *       For unstructured void types like V4, return a bytes object (copy).
-     *     return PyBytes_FromStringAndSize(PyArray_DATA(ap), descr->elsize);
-     */
-
-    if (PyDataType_FLAGCHK(descr, NPY_ITEM_HASOBJECT)
-            || PyDataType_FLAGCHK(descr, NPY_ITEM_IS_POINTER)) {
-        PyErr_SetString(PyExc_ValueError,
-                "tried to get void-array with object members as buffer.");
-        return NULL;
-    }
-    itemsize = PyArray_DESCR(ap)->elsize;
-
-#if defined(NPY_PY3K)
-    /*
-     * Return a byte array; there are no plain buffer objects on Py3
-     */
-    {
-        npy_intp dims[1], strides[1];
-        dims[0] = itemsize;
-        strides[0] = 1;
-        descr = PyArray_DescrNewFromType(NPY_BYTE);
-        u = (PyArrayObject *)PyArray_NewFromDescr(&PyArray_Type,
-                             descr, 1, dims, strides, ip,
-                             PyArray_ISWRITEABLE(ap) ? NPY_ARRAY_WRITEABLE : 0,
-                             NULL);
-        Py_INCREF(ap);
-        if (PyArray_SetBaseObject(u, (PyObject *)ap) < 0) {
-            Py_DECREF(u);
-            return NULL;
-        }
-    }
-#else
-    /*
-     * default is to return buffer object pointing to
-     * current item a view of it
-     */
-    if (PyArray_ISWRITEABLE(ap)) {
-        if (array_might_be_written(ap) < 0) {
-            return NULL;
-        }
-        u = (PyArrayObject *)PyBuffer_FromReadWriteMemory(ip, itemsize);
-    }
-    else {
-        u = (PyArrayObject *)PyBuffer_FromMemory(ip, itemsize);
-    }
-#endif
-
-    if (u == NULL) {
-        return NULL;
-    }
-    return (PyObject *)u;
+    return PyBytes_FromStringAndSize(PyArray_DATA(ap), descr->elsize);
 }
 
 
diff --git a/numpy/core/tests/test_regression.py b/numpy/core/tests/test_regression.py
index b3cb3e61074e..d6dcaa982199 100644
--- a/numpy/core/tests/test_regression.py
+++ b/numpy/core/tests/test_regression.py
@@ -2325,13 +2325,10 @@ def test_scalar_copy(self):
 
     def test_void_item_memview(self):
         va = np.zeros(10, 'V4')
-        # for now, there is just a futurewarning
-        assert_warns(FutureWarning, va[:1].item)
-        # in the future, test we got a bytes copy:
-        #x = va[:1].item()
-        #va[0] = b'\xff\xff\xff\xff'
-        #del va
-        #assert_equal(x, b'\x00\x00\x00\x00')
+        x = va[:1].item()
+        va[0] = b'\xff\xff\xff\xff'
+        del va
+        assert_equal(x, b'\x00\x00\x00\x00')
 
     def test_structarray_title(self):
         # The following used to segfault on pypy, due to NPY_TITLE_KEY