A pioneering family-owned pharmacy at the heart of London's West End has been forced to close after 30 years because of rent increases.

The Garden Pharmacy is the last family-owned store on the popular shopping and tourist street Long Acre in Covent Garden. But the premises will be closing on Friday (March 21) as the owners focus on their online beauty retail business, which they claim was the first of its kind when it launched 20 years ago.

Superintendent pharmacist Harry Ganz blamed the decision to close on "ridiculous" rent increases and rate charges that are now "40 times" what they were when the pharmacy opened in 1984.

The Garden Pharmacy is the last family-owned store on the popular shopping and tourist street Long Acre in Covent Garden	More pharmacy business news Sector divided by 'too many pharmacies' claim Co-operative considers selling its pharmacy business US companies likely to 'make a play' for Co-op pharmacies
	Mr Ganz and his wife Connie, who runs the business with him, had decided "enough is enough", he told C+D on Wednesday (March 12).

Two of the staff had been with the business for 25 years and knew most of their customers by name, Mr Ganz said, adding that the pharmacy had received 600 emails and letters from customers about the closure.

The pharmacy specialises in selling high-end beauty brands including Ren, Dermalogica and Chanel. In 1993, it says it became the first UK-based firm to sell health and beauty products online, when internet businesses were still in their infancy.

In the past few years, the "ratio of online to bricks and mortar" sales had shifted and the pharmacy now only accounted for about five per cent of the total business, Mr Ganz said.

However, the online business had also been "eroded" by competition from other internet suppliers, he added.

Last year, Umesh Modi, partner at accountancy firm Silver Levene warned that high business rates were turning many high streets into "ghost towns" and making it harder for pharmacies to survive.

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