Lloydspharmacy has scrapped its health villages, admitting they were a mistake and "probably a bit premature".

The two villages, which opened last year and featured a day spa and private dental clinic, would be closed, parent company Celesio said, because they were too big and situated in the wrong locations.

The stores, at Brent Cross, London and Lakeside Retail Park, Thurrock, offered patients dispensing and clinical checks, alongside services such as optometry, podiatry and clinical dermatology, provided by partner companies.

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	But Celesio told C+D this week it would be "taking all the best bits and all the learning" out of the pilot and putting it into community pharmacy where the "footfall and customer mission is likely to fit the proposition much better".

The announcement came after a member of Celesio's management board Stephan Borchert admitted last week that the health villages were too big, as he revealed the company's wider plans for its pharmacies across Europe.   

"In pharmacy business it's always a question of how big the pharmacy should be. We see a huge span from 50 square metres to a maximum of 400... the health villages were way above 800 or 900 square metres," he said.  

"It was an experiment and in certain areas we took the best out of it but let's also admit that we do make mistakes at times and this was probably a bit premature."  

Celesio UK managing director Mark James said the village scheme had been a learning exercise and had fundamentally driven the company's plans to try a new look at two of its UK stores, with a focus on skincare and pain management.

"The learning from them has been immense," he said. "Location-wise it was probably the wrong place to put that kind of service but certainly if you look at the skin concept that was a major part of the health village."

"We have announced a proposal to close our health village stores," a Celesio spokesperson confirmed to C+D this week. "We will consult with staff affected over the coming weeks to discuss this in more detail."