Pharmacy in the United Kingdom has been an important part of the National Health Service since it started in 1948. Unlike the rest of the NHS, pharmacies are mostly privately owned. Those in hospitals are now often privately run.
Trade in drugs in the United Kingdom was first regulated by the Guild of Peppers from 1180. The Worshipful Society of Apothecaries was started in 1617. The Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain was founded in 1841. The Pharmacy Act 1868 limited the sale of poisons and dangerous drugs to qualified pharmacists.
Medicine prescribed by a doctor was free at the start of the NHS, but later there were prescription charges, though many people do not have to pay them.
Boots UK Limited, now part of Walgreens Boots Alliance, has 2,232 shops across the United Kingdom with more in Ireland, Thailand and Norway.
Superdrug Stores plc is the second largest pharmacy chain behind Boots.
Lloyds Pharmacy ran about 1300, about 10%, UK pharmacies, and employed 17,000 people. In 2023 it sold or closed many of its branches and only had 138 pharmacies in October 2023.
In 2023 there were 11,026 community pharmacies in England. 160 closed between 2021 and 2013. Costs had risen because of inflation. The Association of Independent Multiple Pharmacies says that there has been a 30% cut in government funding over the last seven years, after taking account of inflation. In Scotland pharmacies are paid for every consultation and they can do more prescribing than in England.