Urban Sightseeting #4: Love Is The Drug

So sang Bryan. And if that’s the case then nobody out with their loved one on Valentine’s Day will be needing their local chemist for anything more than a morning after pill and some paracetamol. Or perhaps something like Diocalm might be required after a bad choice of restaurant.

Most of us, including the unloved and unlovable, only ever pop in to our local chemist shop to buy the things we’d forgotten to buy at the supermarket; mainly lotions for our skin, and potions to fight off colds. It’s all about looking and feeling better. But tell that to the assistant who reads out the content of your prescription in a loud voice to all the customers in the shop!

These days we are more familiar with the chains on our high streets tempting us with their buy-one-get-one-free offers, but a few independent shops with interesting old frontages are still with us. And, for those chemist shops that have gone, some interesting glimpses into the past remain.

But the big question is, at this time of year especially, when the cards and the flowers don’t arrive, what can you take to mend a broken heart? Can a chemist help with that?

By Jane. You can see more of Jane’s London photo collections, covering everything from boot scrapers to weather vanes, over at Janeslondon and Jane’s Flickrstream.

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