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We caught up with Jonathan Board, head of pharmacy at Christie & Co, to understand how the pharmacy property market is shaping up in 2026

P3pharmacy: In 2025, 30 per cent of Christie & Co handled sales were to first-time buyers. With so much doom and gloom about the sector’s future, what is driving continued interest in pharmacy acquisitions?

Jonathan Board: There are always two sides to every story. We can see the reality of the financial position that these pharmacies are in, but you’ve also got to remember that there are a significant number of young entrepreneurial types whose dream is to buy a pharmacy.

They’ve gone through school; they’ve been working for other people; and whether it’s blind optimism or just enthusiasm, they want to make a success of these businesses. I think if they’re buying the right one they can, as we’ve all seen in the past few years where there’s been an increased amount of corporate disposals.

If a pharmacy is struggling to make a profit for a large multinational, that’s very different to an independent pharmacist who lives in the area and knows the community who takes on the contract – they’ll run it differently and be much more agile and flexible. We’ve seen businesses that historically did 4000-5000 items a month go to 7000-8000 within 18 months of purchase. 

You can understand uniformity from a corporate’s point of view. If they’ve got 1,000 pharmacies, it’s obvious that to make their life easier, they want to run them all the same way. But if you think about all the different communities and the different locations and the different demographics that those pharmacies would trade across, they can’t all be the same. 

What do buyers share with you about their plans for driving their business forward? Are they excited about the new service opportunities? 

That’s maybe generational. You’ve got a lot of people that have been in the industry for 20 years, let’s say, and in their view things will have got progressively worse. They will have had to pivot and offer things that they wouldn’t have potentially offered. But for a lot of these young, first time buyers, all they’ve ever known is service delivery – from the New Medicines Service to Medicines Use Reviews and vaccinations. All these things have really become part of pharmacy in the last five years. When they see businesses that don’t have a particularly strong offering or don’t do a lot of those services, their first thought is, I can do what I do on a daily basis for somebody else, and basically do it for myself.

They might also be far more in tune with, things like websites, for example; the amount of pharmacies that still don’t have a website or any online presence, don’t have any way of booking appointments – that sort of thing is quite alien to younger owners. They can implement these things quite easily, quite quickly for quite low cost in many ways, and just add an extra string to the bow of that particular community pharmacy.

In terms of the number of pharmacies coming to market now, are we seeing independents close the gap with corporate disposals?

I think the independent numbers are probably broadly similar to recent years. What we’ve seen is a slight slowdown in the corporate disposals.

The independent market is still there, and I think some of those are starting to come back because the average price of what we’re selling is increasing. People’s perception is that the market might be at a better time if you are looking to retire and cash out than it would have been two years ago.

And banks are still just as wiling to lend?

When you take a step back and look at it, pharmacy is still a very good place for banks to put their money because 80 or 90 per cent of the income is NHS driven in many cases. Obviously, over-the-counter sales and private services are increasing in importance for many, but the security offered within a pharmacy, the control of entry and the fact that somebody can’t open up next door and take all your business (like they can in a restaurant or a retail shop), all means pharmacy is still a good place for banks to put money.

Clearly, they will want to lend it to the right person with the right forecast and the right plans and not over leverage, but compared to a lot of other businesses, pharmacy’s still pretty safe. There is a relatively low level of, of default within the sector.

Does the same apply to distance selling pharmacies (DSPs)? There were a couple of high profile insolvencies involving DSPs in 2025. Are they more vulnerable?

I think they are, at a certain size. Because they are quite labour- and cash-intensive. When you have those distance selling contracts that are focused on growth – a number of these companies have really focused on chasing items – there is a difficulty in keeping a handle on the costs that go with it. Some are in that no man’s land where they’ve chased income but not managed to turn it into profit. 

The market doesn’t see lots of these businesses transact, so it’s slightly more difficult to formulate trends. Time will tell, but they’re very challenging to run in the way that you would run a normal community pharmacy when you can be really on top of your costs and the comings and goings from a profit and loss perspective. It’s very easy for them to spiral and get out of control.

What’s your advice to those looking to either buy or sell up in 2026?

If you’re looking to sell, preparation’s always the key. You want to be looking a year or two ahead. If anyone rings up now and says I want to sell in a few months’ time, that’s fine, but you’ve got to make sure all your accounts and NHS statements, all the nuts and bolts around staff and contracts are in place. 

The lease is obviously very important if you’re a tenant because if you’ve got a residual term left, you’ll probably need to get a new lease, which will obviously require the landlord’s consent. It’s about engaging with your professionals, your solicitors, your accountants, making sure that you’ve got your ducks in a row. 

If you’re buying, it can be opportunity-led in many ways. We are seeing a contraction in the distance that people are looking. I think 10 years ago people had to buy whatever they could get their hands on, but because the supply and demand balance has changed (and there’s more stock available), buyers can be far more choosy and are looking for a pharmacy in an area that is commutable. 

We routinely speak to people that say anything within an hour and a half drive of home is fine. But in my head I’m thinking: “I’m sure that will be fine for the first six months but it’s eventually going to get quite hard.”

Buyers are also quite mindful nowadays on the fixed costs like rent and rates, we get asked about that much more than before Covid, say – and quite rightly. Those costs can’t be managed in the way other overheads can. 

Are there any particular trends in different parts of the country?

There’s not much rhyme or reason to it. With independents, it’s always quite random in terms of where you see owners selling up in order to retire – but I do think the corporates have made more of a decision to scale back from some of the extremities, the areas furthest from their bases. They find those the most challenging to run, which is often linked to locum availability and other recruitment issues.

Anecdotally, you hear that chain branches on the outskirts can look a little unloved. 

Again, it comes back to numbers. If you’ve got a high number of units, your capital expenditure is going to be significant – and you can’t spend all your money on all your shops at one time. Whereas if you’ve got one or two shops and are in those regularly, you’ll see the bits that need doing. Owners will be much more inclined to go in on a Sunday morning to freshen up the place or give it a lick of paint.

Are you anticipating another busy year? 

I think so. The reality is we’re in a different market now with more pharmacies being traded than ever before. We’re not going to be in a position again where 1,000 get put on the market by one group, but we are seeing more sales of a steady nature and no shortage of buyers that want to take those on. 

The sale of Jhoots stores to Allied Pharmacies was a bit of a test case; prior to that we wouldn’t see high numbers of closed pharmacies changing hands. It’s a positive that somebody has seen the opportunity to go in and reopen those shops, get them back up and running despite all the challenges that come with that. 

Finally, how optimistic or pessimistic are your clients about the next contractual settlement? 

You can only control what you can control. Most operators that I speak to are realistic enough to hope for something but not expect it. They sense there will be a funding increase but the quantum won’t be as high as they would hope – but I know how resilient pharmacists are. They’ll cut their cloth accordingly and they will still deliver for their patients.