51°30′32″N 0°11′58″W / 51.50889°N 0.19944°W / 51.50889; -0.19944

Pharmacy was a restaurant in Notting Hill, London, which opened in 1997.[1] It was succeeded by Pharmacy 2, which also closed.[2] The venture was backed by Damien Hirst and public relations specialist Matthew Freud.

Name dispute

It gained further publicity thanks to a dispute with the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain which claimed the name and the pill bottles and medical items on display could confuse people looking for a real pharmacy. The name itself was breaching the Medicines Act 1968, which restricts the use of "pharmacy". The restaurant's name was subsequently changed to "Army Chap", and then "Achy Ramp": anagrams of "Pharmacy".

Closure

However, initial plans to open further restaurants outside London were quietly dropped and the restaurant itself closed in September 2003.[3][4][5]

Hirst, who had only loaned the restaurant the artwork on display on the premises, went on to earn over £11 million when the items were auctioned at Sotheby's.[6] The restaurant's artwork was celebrated in a 2011 exhibition in Leeds Art Gallery.[7]

Revival

On 26 February 2016 Hirst opened his Pharmacy 2 restaurant inside his Newport Street Gallery in Vauxhall, a conversion of 1913 theatrical workshops into a free public art gallery.[8] It closed after a year.

References

  1. ↑ "Pharmacy Restaurant & Bar". Damien Hirst. Archived from the original on 12 August 2013. Retrieved 15 July 2013.
  2. ↑ "Permanently Closed - Pharmacy 2". OpenTable. Retrieved 16 January 2019.
  3. ↑ Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain (September 2003). "Pharmacy restaurant and bar closes". The Pharmaceutical Journal. 271 (7268): 396. Archived from the original on 8 October 2007.
  4. ↑ Barton, Laura (24 September 2003). "The drugs didn't work". The Guardian. Retrieved 15 July 2013.
  5. ↑ Reynolds, Nigel (23 September 2003). "Artist's "Pharmacy" restaurant closes". The Telegraph. London. Retrieved 15 July 2013.
  6. ↑ Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain (October 2004). ""Pharmacy" restaurant items sell for £11m". The Pharmaceutical Journal. 273 (7322): 594. Archived from the original on 28 October 2007.
  7. ↑ "Damien Hirst serves up restaurant art". BBC News. 6 July 2011. Retrieved 15 July 2013.
  8. ↑ "damien hirst opens pharmacy 2 restaurant at newport street gallery in london". 17 February 2016.
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