Pharmacy (restaurant)

Pharmacy was a fashionable restaurant in Notting Hill, London, which opened in 1997. The venture was backed, in the early days, by Damien Hirst and the public relations guru, Matthew Freud. It gained further publicity thanks to a dispute with the Royal Pharmaceutical Society 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", an anagram of "Pharmacy".

However, initial plans to open further restaurants outside London were quietly dropped and the restaurant itself closed in September 2003.cite journal | author = Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain | month = September | year = 2003 | title = Pharmacy restaurant and bar closes | journal = The Pharmaceutical Journal | volume = 271 | issue = 7268 | pages = 396 | url = http://www.pjonline.com/Editorial/20030927/news/restaurant.html]

Hirst, who had only loaned the restaurant the artwork on display on the premises, went on to pocket over £11 million when the items were auctioned at Sotheby's.cite journal | author = Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain | month = October | year = 2004 | title = “Pharmacy” restaurant items sell for £11m | journal = The Pharmaceutical Journal | volume = 273 | issue = 7322 | pages = 594 | url = http://www.pjonline.com/Editorial/20041023/news/p594restaurant.html]

References