Balance Street Pharmacy 

A high-dispensing Staffordshire health centre pharmacy has been bought by three friends (June 18). 

Uttoxeter’s Balance Street Pharmacy was owned by health centre’s doctors for 10 years but decided to sell ahead of retiring.  

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Pharmacists Bhavesh Patel, Viraj Parmar and Pritpal Grewal are the new owners and will run it together as the standard-hour community pharmacy dispensed around 22,000 items per month on average. 

Christie & Co pharmacy director Carl Steer said sales for “high volume pharmacies in and out of medical centres remain strong” and several similar pharmacies are “due to complete across the Midlands in the coming months”. 

Pharmacia Naturale 

A first-time buyer has purchased a pharmacy, which now comes out of administration (June 19). 

Located on a main road in Hornsey, North London, Pharmacia Naturale went into administration in 2022, but Igho Egorr is now its new owner. 

Before it went into administration, the pharmacy dispensed an average of 6,147 items per month. 

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Egorr said he is “excited to have bought my first pharmacy” and plans to “add new stock lines and several new free NHS services”. 

Christie & Co pharmacy director Mark Page said multiple offers were put in on Pharmacia Naturale but the deal “took some time and patience” as new terms were agreed with the council landlord. 

Indoor market pharmacy relocation 

A proposal to turn a former Boots into a new town centre health hub in South Yorkshire is being considered by the local council (June 26). 

Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council is “exploring options” to transform one of its high streets into a health hub that would include a pharmacy on the premises.

The Effingham Street location, where a former Boots stands vacant currently, would be refurbished and Abbey Pharmacy would move to the site in “early 2026” from its current indoor market location which is subject to redevelopment. 

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Rotherham councillor John Williams said the plans are “putting vital health services where they are most accessible - right on our high street” and relocating Abbey Pharmacy is “part of our vision to create a revitalised, thriving town centre that works for everyone”. 

The council said the proposals also laid out how it would work “with health partners and open consultation to explore the implementation of a further health offer” with GP or dentist services.  

It added the plan follows “success of the offer in other towns, leading to an increase in footfall and a reduction of missed appointments”. 

Jhoots and post office move  

Two former Jhoots branches are now being turned into new retail and educational establishments. 

Rosedene Nurseries will open its brand-new nursery on Embleton Court, Redcar in September where Jhoots used to have a branch (June 5).

And in Rainham, Kent, another ex-premises will become a new branch for discount shop Bargain Warehouse as it opens this week on July 10. 

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In October, the branch was visited by bailiffs just six months after it was repossessed by bailiffs for the first time at its former location. 

It comes as Gilbert Pharmacy in Paisley, Scotland, has applied to change it shopfront by installing a prescription collection machine for its patients (June 27). 

And a Rowlands Pharmacy in a post office on the south Wales coast has opened a consultation to move its premises around the corner from its current location (July 3). 

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The Porthmadog post office on Bank Place has a Rowlands Pharmacy in it and it is moving due to the premises lease expiring, with the proposed location at 57-59 High Street. 

The post office said the new premises “would undergo refurbishment” and it is calling for comments from the public on the new proposal by August 14. 

Webber Pharmacy 

A Harrow pharmacy next door to a GP practice has been sold to first-time buyers (July 2). 

Located in the town on the north-west suburbs of London, Webber Pharmacy is located in a residential area with strong footfall as it dispenses around 5,250 items per month. 

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The first-time buyer said they are “looking forward to taking the next steps and growing the business” as Hutchings managing director Scott Hayton said the pharmacy’s “strong performance made it an attractive opportunity”. 

Appeal ‘success’ 

A local Liberal Democrats group has hailed an appeal to bring a pharmacy back as a “success” after it announced a pharmacy will return to Newcastle upon Tyne (July 4). 

Newcastle upon Tyne Liberal Democrats said the return of a pharmacy to Chillingham Road, Heaton is “fantastic news for our community” and “a testament to what we can achieve when we work together”.

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It expects the new pharmacy to be open in “6-9 months” and the lead applicant in the appeal said all the work done by the local Lib Dem group and volunteers to “to get patient feedback made the difference in getting the application to the later stages”. 

It comes after local news site Chronicle Live reported in May that five applications for new pharmacies in Heaton had been rejected by the NHS since Boots and Lloyd’s branches had shut down in the area.