Within 10 miles of central Hull, PharmSee counts 63 community pharmacies against just 33 GP practices. The resulting GP-to-pharmacy ratio of 0.52:1 is the lowest of any major English coastal city — almost twice as dense as Liverpool, three times denser than Leicester. Hull has more pharmacies per GP practice than anywhere we currently track on England's coast.

Is that a feature or a bug?

The 0.52:1 Ratio in Context

Source: PharmSee location analysis, April 2026.

In a ratio-based model, a 0.52:1 means there are roughly two pharmacies for every GP practice. That's double the national density average for non-London cities. It means a GP referral from any Hull practice has, on average, a pharmacy within three minutes' walk.

Why Hull Ended Up Over-Supplied

The over-supply is historical, not recent. Three factors stack:

1. Legacy of the 100-hour contract era. Hull saw a wave of openings between 2005 and 2015 driven by the now-abolished 100-hour contract rules, which rewarded pharmacies for opening extra hours in deprived areas. Central Hull LSOAs sit in deciles 1–3 — among the most deprived in England — so many 100-hour applications succeeded.
2. Dispensing volume per practice. Hull's GP practices each cover larger list sizes than the English average, meaning each practice generates enough prescriptions to support more pharmacies than the ratio alone suggests.
3. Slower consolidation. Hull has seen fewer pharmacy closures per capita than Blackpool, Hastings, or Great Yarmouth — chains have held on because flu, MUR, and Pharmacy First revenue still crosses the breakeven line.

The 23 Vacancies Tell the Second Story

Despite the dense network, only 23 pharmacy vacancies are active within 10 miles of Hull. That's 0.37 vacancies per pharmacy — one of the lowest rates we measure.

Low vacancy rates in a dense network mean one of two things:

• Rota stability — Hull pharmacists stay in post longer, possibly because local salaries feel competitive against very low rents (~£7,200/year for a Hull 1-bed).
• Depressed recruitment — independents aren't hiring because revenue per pharmacy has been sliced thin by the density, making each marginal hire uneconomical.

Our Yorkshire and Humber salary analysis shows regional medians at £42,570, comfortably above the national lower quartile. For a Hull pharmacist, the after-rent number (~£35,370) is one of England's best.

Consolidation Risk: Which 10 Pharmacies Are Most at Risk?

A 0.52:1 ratio cannot hold indefinitely. Nationally, the consolidation trend is moving towards ratios closer to 1.00:1. If Hull follows the national convergence path, that implies roughly 30 pharmacy closures over a 5–7 year horizon — a cut of nearly half.

The first to go are usually:

• Single-branch independents on secondary high streets.
• Pharmacies inside or adjacent to GP surgeries that have been absorbed into other networks.
• 100-hour pharmacies that have quietly reduced their opening hours.

Our pharmacy closures analysis shows the North East and Yorkshire experiencing consolidation at 6–8% per year — at that pace, Hull's over-supply unwinds within the decade.

What It Means For Pharmacy First Revenue

Hull's 0.52:1 ratio is the inverse of Liverpool's 1.42:1. On a per-pharmacy basis, Hull community pharmacies receive fewer Pharmacy First consultations than their Liverpool counterparts — because the GP demand is spread across twice as many sites.

However, two factors partially offset this:

1. Higher deprivation — decile-1 areas generate more chronic prescribing volume.
2. Longer customer tenure — patients in stable communities return more consistently.

Our Pharmacy First revenue potential analysis shows Yorkshire pharmacies averaging roughly £4,800 in annual Pharmacy First revenue per site — below the Liverpool number but above the Bristol number.

What Buyers and Commissioners Should Do

• Independents considering sale should act inside the next 18 months. Valuations will soften as the consolidation pressure becomes obvious to buyers.
• Regional chains (Weldricks, Peak, Cohens) looking for acquisition targets will find Hull's independents the most fairly priced in Yorkshire.
• NHS commissioners should audit the distribution of Hull's 63 pharmacies against deprivation deciles — over-supply is not evenly spread, and closing a "surplus" pharmacy in a decile-1 LSOA would materially hurt access.

Explore the Data

• Hull pharmacy search — filter by HU postcode
• Live Hull pharmacy jobs
• Yorkshire and Humber regional analysis

Hull's 63 pharmacies are a living time capsule of mid-2000s pharmacy contract policy. For 2026, they define the outer boundary of how dense a coastal city network can get before the market forces a rebalance.