Buying + Selling: Leeds pharmacy becomes spoke, double-Walsall sale plus new Lincolnshire Co-op health hub
Seacroft Pharmacy
A National Pharmacy Association (NPA) board member and LPC chair has sold a Leeds pharmacy to a local operator who will turn it into a “spoke” pharmacy (August 14).
Pharm-Assist (Healthcare) Ltd director Ashley Cohen, who serves on the NPA board and chairs Community Pharmacy West Yorkshire, sold Seacroft Pharmacy after a strategic review of his portfolio and “to allow us to focus our attention on other aspects of the business”.
New owner Jeet Vadodaria said Seacroft had a “strong reputation Ashley built over a number of years” and the purchase will make the pharmacy a “great ‘spoke’”.
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“We have just opened a new hub in West Yorkshire,” Vadodaria said. “We plan to service some items via the hub to free up more time for our staff at Seacroft Pharmacy to engage with patients and improve the service offering.”
Christie & Co pharmacy senior business agent Tom Young said five offers were received “at or above the guide price” as the standard-hours pharmacy sits in a two-storey retail unit in a shopping parade by one of the main roads running into Leeds city centre.
It’s 100 yards from a medical practice too and dispenses an average of 5,761 items per month.
BDS Pharmacy and Stevenson Chemist
The sale of two Walsall community pharmacies have doubled their new owners portfolio (August 12).
BDS Pharmacy in Gillity Village and Stevenson Chemist in Cheslyn Hay have been bought by the Riaar family, who also own Yew Tree Pharmacy in Walsall and Wards Chemist in Handsworth Wood.
BDS and Stevenson dispense a combined 20,000 items per month and previous owner Ajmel Sodhi sold them ahead of retirement.
Christie & Co pharmacy director Carl Steer said he was “blessed to act for and sell to lovely people” as the pharmacies were offered off-market to the Riaar family, with Steer confirming the family will complete another pharmacy purchase soon.
Blakelaw Pharmacy
An experienced manager has bought an in-demand Newcastle community pharmacy (August 1).
New owner and first-time buyer Aaron Musgrove said he’s “incredibly proud to have taken over Blakelaw Pharmacy” which dispenses a high 15,000 NHS items per month from around 20 surgeries on average.
It’s in a small shopping precinct and is one of nine pharmacies in a two-mile radius as previous owner Gary Morrow decided to sell to retire.
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“As an independent prescriber, I will expand our clinical services to improve access to healthcare for the community we serve,” he added.
Christie & Co pharmacy director Karl Clezy said there were nine offers from first-time buyers and experienced group operators as the “demand for pharmacies in the Newcastle area is strong at the moment” with “very few independents for sale”.
S P Chauhan Pharmacy
A first-time buyer has purchased a pharmacy located next to London’s Barbican Centre (August 19).
Located in a shopping parade by the Barbican, Niemans Chemist decided to sell after more than 20 years as part of a strategic divestment.
Christie & Co pharmacy director Mark Page said the “buzzing pharmacy” had “historically been run by locum pharmacists” as it dispensed an average of 2,295 items per month.
S P Chauhan Pharmacy’s new owner Asad Repon wanted to “take the next step in my career by running a business I’m truly passionate about” and the pharmacy was a “perfect opportunity”.
“My goal is to unlock the full potential of the pharmacy by building great relationships with the local community and health sectors, and by focusing on NHS and private services that really meet the needs of our patients and customers,” Repon added.
Urban Pharmacy
A strong-retail selling community pharmacy in Belfast has been sold by a husband-and-wife team to a first-time buyer (August 20).
Located on Dublin Road in central Belfast, Urban Pharmacy dispenses an average of 2,100 prescription items per month but sells high volumes of skincare, make-up, perfumes, beauty products, and general household products.
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Previous husband-and-wife owners Cliff and Oonagh McElhinney will now retire as new owner Brian Brolly is “eager to build on the strong reputation the pharmacy already has”.
Lincolnshire Co-op’s pharmacy transformation
A health hub with five consultation rooms will be created at a food retailer (July 16).
Lincoln’s Birchwood Centre has two units neighbouring a Lincolnshire Co-op food store and they will be transformed into a healthcare facility to be completed in the autumn.
Lincolnshire Co-op’s new healthcare facility will offer prescription collection and private consultations and appointments by one of its pharmacies that will move into the new space.
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Birchwood Pharmacy will move in 2026, and its patients will automatically transfer to the new premises.
Lincolnshire Co-op’s Redwood Drive Chiropody in Waddington will also relocate to prove podiatry services in the new health hub.
Pharmacy demolition
Plans have been resubmitted to demolish a pharmacy and build a three-storey building with nine residential units in south London (August 5).
Maplespring Ltd originally applied to Sutton Council for its plans at 27 - 29 High Street, Carshalton but the council on the grounds of nine different reasons.
The new submission has now been “revised” including a “reduction in height” and new “design features”.
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The new design will have two commercial units on the ground floor and nine residential units of which some will have balconies.
Separate and communal amenity spaces, car parking spaces, cycle and refuse stores are included on the plans.
But local news reported residents have objected to the plans in a Facebook group, with some questioning whether the pharmacy will be replaced or not as well as if it will erode Carshalton’s “village feel”.
Others said the plans were “quite sensible” and argued “why get angry about it?”.
Garage conversion
A convenience store has submitted plans to change a garage into a pharmacy in North Yorkshire (August 5).
Borough Road Store in Redcar is seeking a change of use to convert the garage into a pharmacy but one letter has said the plans currently are “misleading” as the area in question where the garage is “has been block paved” after the shop’s last refurbishment.
The letter added car parking there is “very haphazard” and another letter supported this, writing “parking there is already a huge problem) and it “makes driving and walking very dangerous”.
Apartment extension
A Huddersfield pharmacy has submitted plans build an extension above its premises to create three apartments (August 11).
Milnsbridge’s Well Pharmacy will remain on the ground floor, but then two flats would be built on the first floor and another in the attic.
The location is currently within a conservation area, and local news reported the pharmacy would be refurbished with a new toilet added.
Rightdose Pharmacy
A pair of operators have bought their third pharmacy north of Liverpool city centre (August 20).
Ahmad Jan and Vishaal Lola purchased Rightdose Pharmacy in Maghull, just eight miles north of Liverpool, to add to their other pharmacies in Wigan and Huddersfield.
Read more: Market round-up as 67 year old family-owned community pharmacy sold
Previous owner Kasim Gulzar decided to sell to “to focus on our efforts closer to home in Glasgow” and Christie & Co pharmacy senior business agent Tom Young said it received “six offers in excess of the guide price” for Rightdose.
New owner Lola said “we were attracted to this pharmacy due to the high volume of dispensing” as it dispenses an average of 12,539 items per month.
Lotus Pharmacy
A Croydon community pharmacy close to a health centre has been purchased by a local operator (August 4).
Lotus Pharmacy is on a busy shopping parade with customer parking access and R & S Health Ltd’s Sandeep Khosla has bought it to “strengthen his footprint” in the southeast of England.
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It was brought to market as part of a strategic divestment by the previous corporate owners and dispenses an average of 4,233 items per month.
Townsend Pharmacy
A high-dispensing Surrey community pharmacy has been sold to an experienced operator (August 7).
Townsend Pharmacy is a standard hours pharmacy located in a Reigate shopping parade and dispenses an average of 15,343 items per month.
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Jaymil Patel owns several other high-performing pharmacies in the south of England and bought Townsend as it has “a lot of potential”.
The previous owners sold it as part of a strategic divestment and Christie & Co pharmacy business agent Tom Laybourn said it was a “highly competitive sale” that followed the “surge in buyer appetite” seen last year.
Blakelaw Pharmacy, Lotus Pharmacy, Townsend Pharmacy, BDS Pharmacy, Stevenson Chemist, Seacroft Pharmacy, S P Chauhan Pharmacy, Rightdose Pharmacy and Urban Pharmacy were all sold for an undisclosed price.
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