Star readers fancy a crack at £75,000 job at Wicker Pharmacy available for a year

The advert for Superintendent Pharmacist at Wicker Pharmacy attracted one person who failed to attend the interview, according to boss Martin Bennett. The vacancy has been open since November 2021 and the salary includes a bonus. It has been open seven days-a-week for more than 70 years.

On The Star’s Facebook page, Rebecca Bex Mountford wrote: “I used to get the bus from the stop outside of this pharmacy in the dark five days a week for work. I've never felt more unsafe in my life, mostly customers going in and often being dragged back out by police. It gave me some sort of entertainment but also made me be on constant guard the whole time I waited there.”

Jill Cooper said the staff were brilliant but not always the customers.

“They're all brilliant at the Wicker Pharmacy although I have noticed a very high turnover of front of house pharmacy staff. Having seen for myself the often unnecessarily gobby and offensive customers they have to endure on a daily basis, rarely the homeless or drink and drug addicted, it comes as no surprise it's hard to find good staff on every level.”

Tracey Ann Bradley responded: “I worked there briefly, and I loved it.” But Holly Jane had different feelings: “Not a chance. I work in a pharmacy.”

In November, Malcolm Harrison, chief executive of the Company Chemists’ Association, said thousands of pharmacists had been recruited into GP surgeries from hospitals and local pharmacies in a bid to ease the crushing workload of GPs. While this has seen the recruitment of around 4,500 pharmacists into general practice, staff were being pulled from other areas.

Mr Bennett who has worked at Wicker Pharmacy since 1973, said he needed to recruit so he could retire.

He wrote: “The salary will really stretch us but we thought it would attract good candidates. It’s far more than I have ever been paid! It’s also a really interesting job, but not an easy one.”