A Leicestershire community pharmacy was opened by an England rugby star last week. 

Scrum half Ben Youngs is England’s most capped player, with 127 caps, and he visited Market Harborough Pharmacy to celebrate the launch of its new premises inside a medical centre in the town. 

Read more: Pharmacy featured in ‘Paddington in Peru’ film 

The rugby star is local to the area as he still plays for Leicester Tigers, even though he retired from international rugby in October 2023.  

Market Harborough Pharmacy’s lead pharmacist Shyam Jobanputra “wanted someone local to help” open its new premises and was delighted Youngs said “yes” to attend the launch. 

The pharmacy opened 10 years ago and was previously in the medical centre which Jobanputra said they had “outgrown”. 

Read more: ‘It was amazing!’: Olympics lead pharmacist on dispensing to the world’s best athletes 

“We wanted to introduce more services to the area … offering private services including a travel clinic, minor ailments service and weight management clinic,” he told C+D, as well as offering standard NHS services. 

In the new location, they are open until 9pm on weekdays as well across the weekend so it accessible “whether you work night shifts or during the week”. 

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It comes after Downtown Abbey star Hugh Bonneville visited a Hemel Hempstead pharmacy for a day of filming scenes for the ‘Paddington in Peru’ film that came out last year. 

And C+D spoke exclusively with the lead pharmacist who ran an athletic three-month operation out of a 24/7 polyclinic in the Olympic Village last summer.