Bristol is the last pan-English six-city pillar we hadn't measured at branch level. Now we have. Bristol's BS1 ring is unusual — its Boots estate is the cleanest in our seven-city atlas, but its Lloyds estate is a 100% ghost shell.
Headline numbers — Bristol BS1 4DJ, 3-mile ring
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| GP practices | 60 |
| Pharmacies | 68 |
| Raw GP:pharmacy ratio | 0.88:1 |
| Independent share | 57.4% (39 of 68) |
| Ghost branches | 11 (16.2%) |
| Post-ghost effective ratio | 1.05:1 |
The BS1 raw ratio (0.88:1) is almost identical to Sheffield (0.78:1) and Leeds (0.84:1) — South West core Bristol is a balanced-to-over-supplied market before ghost correction. After correction it lifts to effective parity.
Chain composition
| Chain | Branches | Operating | Ghost % | Per-branch avg (operating) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Independent | 39 | 36 | 8% | £90,899 |
| Boots | 11 | 10 | 9% | £66,256 |
| Lloyds | 8 | 0 | 100% | — |
| Superdrug | 3 | 3 | 0% | £49,903 |
| Well | 3 | 3 | 0% | £130,814 |
| Asda | 2 | 2 | 0% | £72,881 |
| Tesco | 2 | 2 | 0% | £86,978 |
Two striking numbers.
Boots Bristol is the cleanest Boots estate in our atlas
Bristol's Boots has 11 contractor codes, 10 operating — a 9% ghost rate. Compare that to the city atlas:
| City | Boots br | Boots op | Ghost % |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sheffield S1 | 9 | 8 | 11% |
| Manchester M1 | 8 | 7 | 12% |
| Bristol BS1 | 11 | 10 | 9% |
| Birmingham B1 | 8 | 6 | 25% |
| Plymouth PL1 | 10 | 6 | 40% |
| Liverpool L1 | 12 | 6 | 50% |
| Leeds LS1 | 12 | 6 | 50% |
| Newcastle NE1 | 16 | 8 | 50% |
Bristol, Sheffield and Manchester form a cluster of cities where Boots is still running ~90% of its registered estate. Leeds, Liverpool, Plymouth and Newcastle are the half-retreat cluster. The South West core isn't part of the 2023-2024 Boots exit wave in branch terms — even though Plymouth's PL1 ring is deep in it. Bristol and Plymouth disagree about Boots, and they're both South West.
Lloyds 100% ghost rate holds across the pan-English atlas
Bristol adds a seventh city to the Lloyds shell-only pattern. We now have Lloyds 100% ghost rates at B1, L1 (2br), M1, S1 (11br — the biggest), BS1 (8br — second biggest), and Leeds LS1 (3br). Newcastle is the lone exception with 2 of 8 Lloyds branches operating at £43,080 — the only live Lloyds operations we've found in any audited city core. The Lloyds 2023 exit is cleanly visible in 95%+ of the NHS Digital register across seven cities.
Bristol's Boots operating average: £66,256
Bristol Boots averages £66,256 per operating branch — closer to Birmingham's £55,435 than to Liverpool's £102,970. The South West Boots stores are below-average revenue. Combined with the clean 9% ghost rate, this suggests Bristol Boots is running a full-estate but thin-margin operation. That's a different commercial regime from Liverpool (half the codes closed, the operators averaging £103k) or Birmingham (quarter closed, operators at £55k).
What Bristol tells us about the pan-English picture
Cycle 16 and 17 combined now measure the pan-English six-city pillar at branch level. The headline: the independent majority holds in every English city core we've measured. Bristol is the weakest case — 57.4% — but it still beats chain aggregate. The chain threat to the independent community pharmacy sector is real at the job-postings level, where Boots dominates, but it is not visible in the branch-count data.
A Bristol operator scoping the local market should read this as a crowded-but-viable independent landscape with a sub-£67k average Boots competitor — the per-branch revenue gap is a structural opening. Browse Bristol pharmacies on PharmSee and see live Bristol pharmacist jobs for the full picture.
Methodology
3-mile ring from BS1 4DJ (Bristol city centre). Chain classification uses the NHS Digital contractor name verbatim for Boots, Lloyds, Well, Cohens, Rowlands, Day Lewis, Weldricks, Tesco, Asda, Morrisons, Superdrug, Peak; all other branches are classed as Independent. Ghost branches are defined as zero 12-month dispensing revenue.
Sources
- PharmSee location analyser:
/api/location/analyze?postcode=BS1+4DJ&radiusMiles=3(April 2026 pull) - City atlas comparisons from PharmSee research cycles 12-17
- NHS Digital pharmacy contractor register