MP Lewis had previously called for the pharmacy to be reinstated, and gathered survey responses about the closure as students ran a campaign and launched a petition to reopen the Boots pharmacy that closed in July 2023. 

The new pharmacy was originally announced by University of East Anglia (UEA) in August 2024, but there was a delay in opening due to the “completion of site refurbishment works”. 

Lewis said the reopening was “fantastic news for students, staff, and the wider community” and “testament to the persistence of campaigners who fought to bring this service back”. 

Read more: Former Boots pharmacy to reopen on uni campus 

The UEA students’ union (SU) communities, culture and diversity officer Amjad Daher said the reopening was particularly important “for those with accessibility needs or without transport into the city”. 

“UEA’s Disabled Students' Community made it clear how important this facility was to them, and I’m proud that their campaigning and persistence have helped bring the pharmacy back,” Daher said. 

Ran by locums 

Bluebell Road Pharmacy has now been taken over by pharmacist Anand Patel who reopened it on October 9. It’s in the same location as the closed Boots on the UEA campus. 

Pharmacist Patel said he was “looking forward to joining the UEA community”. 

“The pharmacy aims to integrate itself within the UEA and local Norwich communities and will have open lines of communication for feedback in store for suggestions,” he added. 

Read more: Graffiti artist decorates new Bristol pharmacy 

The UEA student education and experience strategy delivery deputy director Becky Price said that whilst the Boots pharmacy closure was “beyond the university’s control”, it saw how important the pharmacy was to students and the “concern and complications that the closure had caused them”. 

C+D spoke to UEA’s former SU welfare, community & diversity officer Nathan Wyatt last August, who said Boots relied on locum pharmacists for “about two years” so it didn’t “perform very well”. 

He added that students travelled about 25 minutes away from campus to Earlham West to get their prescriptions after Boots had shut. 

Read more: Net 77 new small pharmacies opened in England in past year 

UEA said that Boots terminated its pharmacy contract before the pharmacy’s ownership could be transferred to new management, which meant Patel had to apply for a new pharmacy contract. 

An appeal was launched against the new pharmacy application, but it was dismissed by Primary Care Support England (PCSE). 

Read more: ‘Strong market’: Eight in 10 plan to buy and/or sell pharmacy by 2028 

It comes as the NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) announced this month that a net 77 new small pharmacy branches have opened across England in the past year. 

And Christie & Co’s latest annual market review published earlier this month found over 80% of pharmacy professionals plan to buy or sell a pharmacy, or both, in the next three years.