London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Monday, Sep 01, 2025

Lloyds Pharmacy to close all Sainsbury's branches putting 2,000 jobs at risk

Lloyds Pharmacy to close all Sainsbury's branches putting 2,000 jobs at risk

The move comes in response to charging market conditions, the company said.

Lloyds Pharmacy is to pull out of 237 in-store Sainsbury's branches, potentially putting more than 2,000 jobs at risk and exposing the financial pressure on UK pharmacies at the height of the NHS crisis.

Lloyds Pharmacy, which bought Sainsbury's 280-strong pharmacy network in 2015 in a deal worth £125m, said it would close the branches in the course of the year "in response to changing market conditions".

Individual branches will be put up for sale and the company said it was "working with colleagues potentially affected by the changes and has underlined its commitment to support them through the process". It did not say how many roles could be affected.

When its parent company Celesio bought the Sainsbury's pharmacy network, around 2,500 staff transferred to its employment.

Kevin Birch, chief executive of Lloyds Pharmacy, said: "This decision has not been an easy one and we understand that our patients and customers may have questions about how the change will affect them.

"We would like to thank them for their continued support and assure them that we are committed to providing a smooth transition over the coming months."

Lloyds Pharmacy operates about 10% of UK pharmacies but a number of its branches have been sold in recent months.

Its supermarket sites may be attractive to potential buyers and Boots, the UK's biggest pharmacy with 2,200 stores, is expected to examine sites in areas where it is under-represented. Given its scale, however, any wholesale purchase could face objections from regulators.

The Lloyds Pharmacy sale underlines the financial squeeze being felt by pharmacists even as ministers call on its resources to relieve pressure on NHS services.

The Department of Health wants pharmacists to expand their services to take some of the pressure off healthcare settings. During the pandemic, pharmacists were a crucial element of the vaccination programme.

The industry has argued that the latest pharmacy contract represents a real-terms cut in income because of the impact of inflation.


An industry group warned that the move "means significant reductions in access to a pharmacy for patients"

Figures published this month showed the industry had lost £1.6bn as a consequence of inflation since 2016, a trend the industry says threatens the future of thousands of community pharmacies.

The Pharmacists Defence Association said the Sainsbury's closures could adversely affect patients.

"We have seen many disposals of Lloyds Pharmacy branches over recent months and we know more may occur, however for every disposal there has been a buyer, therefore patients and communities have seen no reduction in availability, the pharmacy network has not lost capacity and there were no job losses," Mark Pitt, its assistant general secretary, said.

"This situation is different and means significant reductions in access to a pharmacy for patients and we expect those who represent communities to be concerned about the loss of a key part of their local NHS service.

"Forward-thinking governments around the UK are seeking to make greater use of pharmacies as the most accessible contact point in the NHS, to reduce pressure on other parts of the healthcare system, so there should be greater community pharmacy capacity, not less."

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
WhatsApp is rolling out a feature that looks a lot like Telegram.
Investigations Reveal Rise in ‘Sex-for-Rent’ Listings Across Canada Exploiting Vulnerable Tenants
Chinese and Indian Leaders Pursue Amity Amid Global Shifts
European Union Plans for Ukraine Deployment
ECB Warns Against Inflation Complacency
Concerns Over North Cyprus Casino Development
Shipping Companies Look Beyond Chinese Finance
Rural Exodus Fueling European Wildfires
China Hosts Major Security Meeting
Chinese Police Successfully Recover Family's Savings from Livestream Purchases
Germany Marks a Decade Since Migrant Wave with Divisions, Success Stories, and Political Shifts
Liverpool Defeat Arsenal 1–0 with Szoboszlai Free-Kick to Stay Top of Premier League
Prince Harry and King Charles to Meet in First Reunion After 20 Months
Chinese Stock Market Rally Fueled by Domestic Investors
Israeli Airstrike in Yemen Kills Houthi Prime Minister
Ukrainian Nationalist Politician Andriy Parubiy Assassinated in Lviv
Corporate America Cuts Middle Management as Bosses Take On Triple the Workload
Parents Sue OpenAI After Teen’s Death, Alleging ChatGPT Encouraged Suicide
Amazon Faces Lawsuit Over 'Buy' Label on Digital Streaming Content
Federal Reserve Independence Questioned Amid Trump’s Push to Reshape Central Bank
British Politics Faces Tumultuous Autumn After Summer of Rebellions and Rising Farage Momentum
US Appeals Court Rules Against Most Trump-Era Tariffs
UK Sought Broad Access to Apple Users’ Data, Court Filing Reveals
UK Bank Shares Dive Over Potential Tax on Sector
Germany’s Auto Industry Sheds 51,500 Jobs in First Half of 2025 Amid Deepening Crisis
Bruce Willis Relocated Due to Advanced Dementia
French and Korean Nuclear Majors Clash As EU Launches Foreign Subsidy Probe
EU Stands Firm on Digital Rules as Trump Warns of Retaliation
Getting Ready for the 3rd Time in Its History, Germany Approves Voluntary Military Service for Teenagers
Argentine President Javier Milei Evacuated After Stones Thrown During Campaign Event
Denmark Confronts U.S. Diplomat Over Covert Trump-Linked Influence in Greenland
Starmer Should Back Away from ECHR, Says Jack Straw
Trump Demands RICO Charges Against George Soros and Son for Funding Violent Protests
Taylor Swift Announces Engagement to NFL Star Travis Kelce
France May Need IMF Bailout, Warns Finance Minister
Chinese AI Chipmaker Cambricon Posts Record Profit as Beijing Pushes Pivot from Nvidia
After the Shock of Defeat, Iranians Yearn for Change
Ukraine Finally Allows Young Men Aged Eighteen to Twenty-Two to Leave the Country
The Porn Remains, Privacy Disappears: How Britain Broke the Internet in Ten Days
YouTube Altered Content by Artificial Intelligence – Without Permission
Welcome to The Definition of Insanity: Germany Edition
Just a reminder, this is Michael Jackson's daughter, Paris.
Spotify’s Strange Move: The Feature Nobody Asked For – Returns
Manhunt in Australia: Armed Anti-Government Suspect Kills Police Officers Sent to Arrest Him
China Launches World’s Most Powerful Neutrino Detector
How Beijing-Linked Networks Shape Elections in New York City
Ukrainian Refugee Iryna Zarutska Fled War To US, Stabbed To Death
Elon Musk Sues Apple and OpenAI Over Alleged App Store Monopoly
2 Australian Police Shot Dead In Encounter In Rural Victoria State
Vietnam Evacuates Hundreds of Thousands as Typhoon Kajiki Strikes; China’s Sanya Shuts Down
×