A new operator has been approved to run the pharmacy in the Co-op supermarket in Old Town.

But it could be up to 15 weeks before HG Hanks Ltd can start work on the pharmacy, if at all.

The company runs the Hawthorn Pharmacy at 261 Cricklade Road and was one of two companies to apply for NHS England’s approval to re-open the pharmacy in the High Street supermarket, which has been closed since Rowlands pulled down the shutters in 2023.

HG Hanks was one of two applicants, both supported by Swindon Borough Council’s Health & Wellbeing Board – the other being Sonny Fungai Fundira.

Although Hanks has been given the nod by the NHS body which decides these matters, Victoria Road Pharmacy, which is about a 10 to 15 minute walk away at the bottom of the steep hill, has appealed against the approval.

Swindon Borough Council’s director of public health professor Steve Maddern told members of the Health & Wellbeing Board: “It can take NHS Resolution up to 15 weeks for a decision to be made.

“That’s a frustrating wait because it means  there will continue to be no pharmacy at that location.”

The Boots branch in Wood Street closed earlier this year meaning two pharmacies have disappeared from Old Town in the last 18 months.