Busy Morecambe pharmacy set to close down in the new year

Boots Pharmacy Westgate which is on Braddon Close next to Westgate surgery will be shutting in early February 2024, leaving customers disappointed and outraged.

A member of the public said: “The people of Westgate, Morecambe, a community of mixed age, culture and race are facing the devastating closure of their local pharmacy.

“Many people have expressed their disappointment and outrage and even taken steps to object to the closure by contacting head office at Boots to make their opinions clear.

“This amenity has served people for many years and been at the heart of their health care service.

“The decision has been taken to close the chemist and hopefully move patients to the larger store in Morecambe’s Arndale centre.

"However, many residents of Westgate are of compromised mobility.

“Now patients are forced to choose an alternative despite their wishes.

“I cannot understand the decision to deprive this community of its pharmacy.”

A spokesperson for Boots Pharmacy at Westgate said: “We’ve been telling customers we will be shutting in early February next year.

"All staff will be offered jobs at other Boots pharmacies in the area.”

Boots which is owned by American corporation Walgreen declined to comment officially on the closure of Westgate Pharmacy.

The health and beauty retailer Boots announced its plans to shut 300 stores earlier this year.

Eight Boots shops across the UK have already ceased trading, though hundreds more are yet to go before the end of 2023.

Closures are likely to continue into 2024 as the pharmacy giant set out a 12-month period to complete them.

It comes as part of the retailer's plan to reduce its stores from 2,200 to 1,900, which bosses believe will help "consolidate the business".

The retailer, which employs 56,000 people in the UK, has offered those affected opportunities to work in other stores.

It's not the first time that Boots has executed mass closures either.

In 2019, the pharmacy giant began closing more than 200 stores over an eighteen-month period, which saw roughly eight percent of Boots high street branches close.