Pharmacy (restaurants)

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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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