Pharmacy (restaurants)
51°30′32″N 0°11′58″W / 51.50889°N 0.19944°W
Pharmacy was a restaurant in Notting Hill, London, which opened in 1998.[1] 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 of Great Britain 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", and then "Achy Ramp": anagrams of "Pharmacy".
However, initial plans to open further restaurants outside London were quietly dropped and the restaurant itself closed in September 2003.[2][3][4]
Hirst, who had only loaned the restaurant the artwork on display on the premises, went on to earn over £11 million when the items were auctioned at Sotheby's.[5] The restaurant's artwork was celebrated in a 2011 exhibition in Leeds Art Gallery.[6]
On February 26, 2016 Hirst opened his Pharmacy 2 restaurant inside his Newport street in South London, a conversion of 1913 theatrical workshops into a free public art gallery.[7]
References
- ^ "Pharmacy Restaurant & Bar". Damien Hirst. Retrieved 15 July 2013.
- ^ Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain (September 2003). "Pharmacy restaurant and bar closes". The Pharmaceutical Journal. 271 (7268): 396. Archived from the original on 8 October 2007.
- ^ Barton, Laura (24 September 2003). "The drugs didn't work". The Guardian. Retrieved 15 July 2013.
- ^ Reynolds, Nigel (23 September 2003). "Artist's "Pharmacy" restaurant closes". The Telegraph. Retrieved 15 July 2013.
- ^ Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain (October 2004). ""Pharmacy" restaurant items sell for £11m". The Pharmaceutical Journal. 273 (7322): 594. Archived from the original on 28 October 2007.
- ^ "Damien Hirst serves up restaurant art". BBC News. 6 July 2011. Retrieved 15 July 2013.
- ^ http://www.designboom.com/design/damien-hirst-restaurant-pharmacy-2-newport-street-gallery-london-02-17-2016/
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