Westminster Park Pharmacy and Owen’s Chemist, trading as Salrook Healthcare Limited, are situated just a mile apart in Chester and dispense roughly 13,000 items per month between them.

The “well-established” pharmacies were sold for an undisclosed sum to pharmacist Aqib Sheikh – who already owns a pharmacy in Walsall – as part of a confidential process with Christie & Co, the broker announced yesterday (April 19).

Read more: Only pharmacy in Aberdeenshire village sold to local chain

Mr Sheikh “plans to enhance the business’s service offering and grow his portfolio in the region”, Christie & Co said.

It follows the sale of the only pharmacy in an Aberdeenshire village to an expanding local pharmacy group, which was announced earlier this week (April 18).

Business acquired by “forward-thinking” pharmacist

Salrook Healthcare Limited was owned by the Persaud family since 2014 and was brought to market “as a retirement sale”, the broker said.

Previous owner Chloe Yadav (nee Persaud) said it was “good to know” that the business had been bought by “a forward-thinking pharmacist who will enhance the offering to the benefit of the patients”.

But she said that the family would “miss our team, who have become like family”.

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Meanwhile, Mr Sheikh said that he was “delighted to have inherited such a well-run and profitable pair of pharmacies in the charming city of Chester”.

“I’d like to wish John Persaud the very best with his retirement and look forward to building on the work of the Persaud family,” he added.

Christie & Co’s director of medical, Jon Booth, commented that while it is “always more challenging” to handle sales involving two sites, the “proximity” of the pharmacies “made this easier”.