From Mr W. B. Hannon, MRPharmS
SIR,—I feel sorry for young pharmacists today; they are looking forward to a bleak existence. When I qualified more than 50 years ago, I could look forward to the future. I went through the process of learning by way of assistant manager and superintendent pharmacist before I finally took the plunge and bought my own pharmacy. I opened in a mining village in Co Durham, using a £77 income tax rebate, a £1,000 bank overdraft and six-months’ interest-free credit from four local wholesale houses. I took over the mortgage of a double-fronted shop from a barber who was having difficulty in meeting the payments. The senior partner in the local medical partnership came and shook my hand and said how glad he was to be relieved of the dispensing chore. I offered to supply his dispensing needs on a cost plus 10 per cent basis and we had a friendly relationship thereafter. My business flourished and was solvent in a very short space of time. Sadly, the days of independent pharmacy are numbered. Big business has taken over and multiples are now the norm. The only outlet I can see for our young entrepreneurs is to go into partnership with village post offices, which are currently threatened. I know of several village post offices in the Lake District which would jump at the chance of such a lifeline, and this would also hammer the doctor-dispensing practices. At 75, I am too old and lazy to start up again. But I would willingly help and advise any young pharmacist entrepreneur.
W. B. Hannon
47 Castle Grove, Kendal, Cumbria LA9 7AZ