What happened to Lloydspharmacy?
NHS data
An interactive report showing what has happened to Lloydspharmacy, formerly one of the biggest NHS community pharmacy chains in the UK. Scroll down to read on.
The history of Lloydspharmacy
Lloyds Chemist was founded in 1973 when pharmacist Allen Lloyd purchased his first pharmacy in Polesworth, Warwickshire.
Over the next two decades, the company would grow through acquisitions of independent pharmacies and regional groups, before being purchased in 1997 by Celesio AG, who had bought AAH Pharmaceuticals and the Hills Pharmacy group two years previously.
Celesio were in turn purchased by McKesson Corporation in 2014.
Lloydspharmacy buys Sainsbury's pharmacies
In 2015, Lloydspharmacy agreed to buy Sainsbury's pharmacy business for £125 million, which comprised of 281 pharmacies (277 within Sainsbury's stores and 4 within hospitals). This brought the total number of UK Lloydspharmacy branches to around 1,800.
To satisfy the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), Lloydspharmacy was forced to sell at least 12 pharmacies so as to not reduce patient choice in these areas:
- HEALTH & WELLBEING CENTRE, 5 MARKET SQUARE, SANDY, BEDFORDSHIRE, SG19 1HU
- BREEZE CLOSE HEALTH CTR, 1-3 RICE LANE, WALTON, LIVERPOOL, MERSEYSIDE, L9 1AD
- 2 BRAMINGHAM PARK CENTRE, WHITEHORSE VALE, LUTON, BEDFORDSHIRE, LU3 4AD
- 5 THE HIGHWAY, BEACONSFIELD, BUCKINGHAMSHIRE, HP9 1QD
- THE SAXON CENTRE, 242 BEDFORD ROAD, BEDFORD, BEDFORDSHIRE, MK42 8PP
- 46-48 THE GREEN, WARLINGHAM, SURREY, CR6 9NA
- 18 THE PARADE, OXFORD ROAD, KIDLINGTON, OXFORDSHIRE, OX5 1DB
- 344-346 LYMINGTON ROAD, HIGHCLIFFE, CHRISTCHURCH, DORSET, BH23 5EY
- 2 THE AVENUE, ALWOODLEY, LEEDS, WEST YORKSHIRE, LS17 7BE
- 97 LISCOMBE, BIRCH HILL, BRACKNELL, BERKSHIRE, RG12 7DE
- 27 HIGH STREET, THEALE, READING, BERKSHIRE, RG7 5AH
- 44 STATION ROAD, LLANISHEN, CARDIFF, CF14 5LT
190 branches deemed "commercially unviable"
In a surprise announcement in October 2017, Lloydspharmacy announced the closure of 190 commercially unviable branches. The managing director at the time, Cormac Tobin, stated:
Changes to government policy on reimbursement and retrospective clawbacks over the past two years have gradually made operations at many LloydsPharmacy stores commercially unviable. We will be doing all that we can to support our affected colleagues and minimise disruption for patients.
Mr Tobin resigned a week later.
Over the next 12 months, 190 branches of Lloydspharmacy would either close permanently or be sold.
Lloydspharmacy buys Echo
In 2019, McKesson purchased Echo, a UK-based startup which offered patients free medication delivery and prescription management through a smartphone app.
At that time, Lloydspharmacy already had their own newly-launched online pharmacy with around 4,000 EPS nominated patients, whereas Echo had around 30,000.
After a period of growth, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, Echo rebranded as LloydsDirect in 2021. At that point, it had grown to around 500,000 EPS nominated patients.
McKesson sells UK business to Aurelius, and Aurelius sells LloydsPharmacy
In 2021, McKesson sold its European business to the Phoenix Group, and its UK business to private equity firm Aurelius Group. The completion of the sale of McKesson UK was announced in April 2022.
In January 2023, LloydsPharmacy announced their intention to withdraw operations from all Sainsbury's stores. This was announced to take place over the course of 2023, and would affect 237 LloydsPharmacy branches within Sainsbury's locations.
In February 2023, a set of projects to sell a significant number of LloydsPharmacy branches in England, Scotland and Wales was revealed. Aurelius declined to comment on suggestions that it was planning to sell all branches of LloydsPharmacy, or that it intended to stop providing pharmacy services to the Scottish prison service.
What happened to the branches?
Loading LloydsPharmacy branch map...
Data availability for pharmacy sales and closures varies by country; see below graph of pharmacy branches over time to see the latest dates for which data is available and used in the above map.
Who bought the pharmacies?
Notable sales
- The original Lloyds Chemist (the first branch that Allen Lloyd purchased) was sold to TAMWORTH PHARMA LIMITED in September 2023.
- Pharmacy2U announced in October 2023 that they have acquired LloydsDirect, the online pharmacy of LloydsPharmacy, and that the two businesses will eventually merge under the Pharmacy2U brand.
- The iconic London-based pharmacy, John Bell & Croydon, established in 1798, has been acquired by Bestway, the parent company of the Well Pharmacy group.
How are the ex-Lloyds branches doing now?
Loading ex-Lloyds items graph...
The data within this report, including details of pharmacy sales and pharmacy ownership, is from PharmDirectory and is updated at least once per day.
