Moorside Pharmacy, a 30-hour community pharmacy co-located with a GP surgery, has been sold to locum pharmacist Monju Miah for an undisclosed price, broker Christie & Co has said.

The pharmacy, which dispenses an average of 3,200 items per month and shares a building with Moorside Branch Surgery, is located on the eastern tip of the Pennines near the Northumberland boundary.

Mr Miah, who says he plans to boost the pharmacy’s service offering, bought the business from Rachel Hurst, who has owned it since 1995. Ms Hurst plans to concentrate on her three busier pharmacies in the Durham area.

Christie & Co’s Karl Clezy said: “Moorside Pharmacy mainly attracted interest from first-time buyers as it was priced at the more affordable end of the scale and presented an ideal opportunity for someone looking for more of a lifestyle business as it is only open 30 hours per week. 

“Although limited trading hours, the pharmacy will still perform well as a business, benefiting from its location inside the surgery building.” 

Christie Finance director Craig Dickson commented: “Monju is hugely experienced in the pharmacy sector.

“He will be very much hands on within the pharmacy and is looking forward to forging closer links with the local community.

“Monju had been looking for a pharmacy for some time and views Moorside as an ideal opportunity to increase item numbers and services going forward.

“We continue to have great success in arranging funding within the pharmacy sector for both first-time buyers and experienced operators alike.”