Cycle 15 measured Lloyds Pharmacy's ghost rate across seven English city cores and found 38 of 40 contractor codes (95%) were zero-revenue. The two operating Lloyds branches were both in Newcastle. Cycle 19 extended the audit to nine cities and confirms the finding: Newcastle NE1 7RU is the only English city core in PharmSee's atlas with any operating Lloyds Pharmacy branches at all.
The 9-city Lloyds audit (cycle 19)
| City | Lloyds contractor codes | Operating | Ghost rate | Operating revenue |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Birmingham B1 | 7 | 0 | 100% | £0 |
| Bristol BS1 | 7 | 0 | 100% | £0 |
| Leeds LS1 | 3 | 0 | 100% | £0 |
| Liverpool L1 | 2 | 0 | 100% | £0 |
| Manchester M1 | 5 | 0 | 100% | £0 |
| Nottingham NG1 | 4 | 0 | 100% | £0 |
| Plymouth PL1 | 2 | 0 | 100% | £0 |
| Sheffield S1 | 11 | 0 | 100% | £0 |
| Newcastle NE1 | 9 | 2 | 78% | £86,159 |
Total: 50 Lloyds contractor codes across 9 English city cores, 2 operating, 48 ghost — a 96% ghost rate. Every city except Newcastle is 100% ghost.
The two Newcastle survivors
Newcastle NE1 7RU 3mi ring contains 9 Lloyds contractor codes. The two operating branches are:
| Contractor | Postcode | Distance | Items | Revenue |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FA439 | NE8 2PQ | 1.78 mi | 36,249 | £46,761 |
| FVN94 | NE4 8AY | 1.28 mi | 30,541 | £39,398 |
FA439 (NE8 2PQ) sits in Gateshead on the Tyne south bank. FVN94 (NE4 8AY) sits in Fenham, on the north-west Newcastle fringe. Neither is a city-centre branch — both are outer-ring neighbourhood Lloyds that Boots's 2023 Alliance Healthcare takeover either overlooked, deferred, or deliberately maintained as operational outliers.
Combined operating revenue: £86,159. This is roughly the revenue of a single below-average Leeds Boots branch. It is the entirety of Lloyds Pharmacy's measured presence across 9 English city-core catchments.
The seven Newcastle ghosts
The other seven Newcastle Lloyds contractor codes are all zero-revenue, zero-items:
| Contractor | Postcode | Status |
|---|---|---|
| FVK14 | NE4 5JP | Ghost |
| FTF46 | NE4 8AY | Ghost (same postcode as operating FVN94 — probable re-number) |
| FRL39 | NE4 9QB | Ghost |
| FAX07 | NE8 2PQ | Ghost (same postcode as operating FA439 — probable re-number) |
| FRX90 | NE7 7JW | Ghost |
| FQP85 | NE6 2NY | Ghost |
| FWK47 | NE7 7EE | Ghost |
Two of the seven ghost codes share postcodes with the two operating branches — they look like administrative re-numbers rather than closed second sites. That would leave five genuine closed Newcastle Lloyds plus the two survivors plus the two possibly-duplicate codes. The cycle 18 non-operating contractor filter feature proposal would resolve which codes are register artefacts versus genuine closed sites.
Why Newcastle specifically?
There is no published reason for Newcastle's Lloyds survival. Three hypotheses are consistent with the data:
- Geographic specialisation. FA439 Gateshead and FVN94 Fenham are both outside the immediate Newcastle city core, in catchments that Boots's 2023 takeover would have deprioritised for rationalisation (lower rent, lower overlap with existing Boots flagship sites). The survival pattern is outer-neighbourhood, not city-centre.
- Legacy franchise structure. Some pre-2023 Lloyds branches operated under franchise-like arrangements with the regional parent company (Admenta UK / Alliance Healthcare). If the Newcastle branches had slightly different commercial structures, they might have been outside the scope of the Boots absorption.
- Operating underperformance made them uninteresting to absorb. £46,761 and £39,398 are both below-average NHS dispensing revenues. Boots may have calculated that the absorption cost exceeded the value, and let them continue operating under the Lloyds banner. This is the "not worth closing" hypothesis.
PharmSee cannot distinguish between these hypotheses from the dispensing data alone. NHS Business Services Authority would need to confirm from the contractor-payments side.
The national implication
The Newcastle exception is load-bearing for any claim about Lloyds Pharmacy's UK presence. Lloyds as a trading entity survives nationally in the Sainsbury's concession estate (outside PharmSee's 9-city city-core audit because Sainsbury's sits in a separate contractor class). But as a standalone pharmacy chain operating under its own brand, Lloyds is down to 2 branches in the 9 largest audited English city-core catchments, and both are in the outer Newcastle ring.
A headline like "Lloyds Pharmacy still operates X UK branches" is likely referring either to: (a) the Sainsbury's-concession estate, (b) Welsh/Scottish contractor codes PharmSee doesn't measure (Wales is half-integrated, see the W-codes piece), or (c) suburban branches outside 3-mile city-core rings.
For anyone modelling chain pharmacy competition in England's nine largest city cores, the practical answer is: Lloyds is not a competitive factor. It is two survivor branches in outer Newcastle and a 96% ghost rate everywhere else. The "three large chains" national framing (Boots, Well, Lloyds) is obsolete in the city-core geography — it is now Boots plus Well plus Independents.
Explore the data
- Newcastle pharmacy search — 85 pharmacies in NE1 3mi
- Lloyds 95% ghost rate analysis
- Newcastle Boots 50% ghost
- Non-operating contractor filter proposal
Methodology
Nine-city Lloyds audit, cycle 19. 3-mile location-analyzer rings. Lloyds branches identified by "LLOYDSPHARMACY" in contractor name. Operating status cycle 14 convention. The two duplicated-postcode ghost codes (FTF46 and FAX07) are treated as genuine ghosts for the 96% rate calculation but flagged as probable administrative artefacts. PharmSee's register is NHS Digital England-only; Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish Lloyds presence is out of scope for this measurement.