A Bristol pharmacist has retired and sold the pharmacy he ran for 44 years after serving “four generations” of customers.

Anoop Sood had ran Sood Chemists from 25 Gloucester Road in the Bishopston area of Bristol since March 1980, and is retiring with his wife Sunita who helped to manage the pharmacy as they take “a backward step from working”.

The retiring couple will still own their second premises, also called Sood Chemists, at the Church Road location nearby in the Gloucester Road Medical Centre which they purchased back in 2012 but have enough staff they don’t need to be involved in its day-to-day running.

He shared how people have come up to him to say he has been serving “four generations”, adding “I started off with the in-laws and the couple, then they have kids and they're old enough to have kids of their own.

Read more: What's the story... of the Tobermory Pharmacy?

“But they keep coming back to me for advice, or bring their prescriptions to me,” Sood said.

The retiring pharmacist said the area is home to students in halls of residences, young families and the elderly, and now new pharmacist owner Yi Min Wooi will serve the locals after exchanging contracts earlier this month (September 13).

But he said the area has brought challenges for running a pharmacy as there’s been “lots of changes in the shopping patterns” as well as “changes in a lot of restaurants, coffee houses”. 

“We've seen lots of businesses come and go, and we stayed right through them all,” he added.

Read more: Pharmacist nominated for NHS lifetime achievement award

The recession and pandemic brought “new challenges”, particularly the latter as “it was the unknown kind of thing”.

“Because we are frontline, we had to open our pharmacies all the time [and] accepting dire problems when we couldn't acquire staff or something. 

“But we had to change, and it was quite challenging trying to explain that to the staff and also mainly to the customers as to why we were doing that and what the importance of regular hygiene standards and wearing PPE as well.”

Sood felt “proud” though when customers came to thank him after they found out the pharmacy was changing hands.

Read more: Ex-pharmacist wins best pub award after career change 

“I've been helping the community all the time, [so] it’s been quite pleasing to have a chat with them and they're describing how I helped them and little incidences of my guidance and intervention [has] eased their problem,” he said.

The pharmacist shared how he had even offered to pay somebody’s taxi fare after they came in as he was concerned about them and wanted them to go to hospital.

“When I offered him the money, he realised the seriousness of my concern, and then he decided to [go] and in the hospital, he was told that whoever told you to come probably saved your life.”

Even though Anoop and Sunita are retiring, they may still “pop in now and again to show our face” at their Church Road premises if the odd shifts need covering.

Image credit: Hannah Massoudi