Rachel Gilmour Meets with Allied Pharmacies Following Tiverton, Minehead, and Williton Rescue Deals

Yesterday (3rd February), Rachel Gilmour met with the five brothers from Allied Pharmacies – Suhaib Abdullah, and Mussab, Suhail, Bilal, and Abdul Sharief – in Parliament. At the meeting, Mrs Gilmour received an update on the takeover deals, issues relating to previous Jhoots contracts, and the current services on offer to constituents.

In 2025, Allied Pharmacies made multiple deals with Jhoots Pharmacy Limited to acquire 129 pharmacy premises across the country. Three premises in the Tiverton and Minehead constituency were involved in the takeover deals: Market Place in Tiverton, Friday Street in Minehead, and Williton Surgery on Robert Street in Williton.

Allied Pharmacies, which was established in 2005, has a history of taking over distressed pharmacy assets, after previously acquiring various Lloyds Pharmacy premises.

Before the acquisitions, one of the major concerns Mrs Gilmour had about Jhoots’ operations was the unacceptable delays in paying staff members. During the meeting, Mrs Gilmour was informed that there was an agreement with administrators that Allied would pay the full arrears of staff who ported over to Allied from Jhoots. From the first set of pharmacy transfers, Allied confirmed that all arrears had been paid.

Despite the positive news, according to Allied Pharmacies CEO Suhaib Abudullah and Managing Director Sohail Sharief, the opening of new pharmacies doesn’t necessarily guarantee the long-term sustainability of each site. The Minehead site has had a lower uptake than expected thus far, and Allied representatives made it clear that it is a case of “use it or lose it” when it comes to keeping pharmacies open for the medium and long-term.

Rachel Gilmour, MP for Tiverton and Minehead, said:

“I am pleased that I was able to meet the Allied Pharmacies team yesterday to learn more about the acquisition of premises across the Tiverton and Minehead constituency.

After my meeting today, I have confidence in Allied to play a key role in improving the state of local pharmacy services for constituents in Mid Devon and West Somerset. They’re

definitely an improvement on Jhoots, but now they need our help to keep each of their new premises open.

Following these initial conversations, I look forward to working closely with the Allied team to ensure constituents can easily access life-improving and life-saving medications.”