The chain – which is concentrated in the north of England – almost doubled in size last year, expanding from 11 to 21 pharmacies.

Mr Jeffers is hoping to "add another six to eight pharmacies" in 2017, he told C+D in an exclusive interview earlier this month (January 13).

These pharmacies could be located “anywhere north of Derby, up to the Scottish border”, he said.

“There’s plenty of opportunities in that geographical patch, and we have investors who have a strong belief in our management team,” he told C+D.

“We’re very selective about the [branches] we buy. We’re not interested in retail-orientated pharmacies, because that’s not our business model,” Mr Jeffers said.

“We take the time to understand a business before we buy it. Crucially, we always listen to the staff that we’ve inherited and modify [our] plans before we refurbish,” he added.

Mr Jeffers predicted that the number of pharmacies hitting the market would rise in 2017, as the impact of the funding cuts and extra complexities around the funding model begin to sink in.

However, the Hub pharmacy team “still believes the long-term future of pharmacy is a viable one financially”, he stressed.

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