Park Pharmacy Trust

Park Pharmacy Trust, a registered Educational Charity, has since its inception in 1984 been working closely with Plymouth City Council for the wider benefits of the local community. It has received National recognition for both its innovative approaches to life-long learning and as a tourist attraction for visitors to Plymouth. Its famous C J Park Pharmacy, the last remaining Victorian chemist's shop in Plymouth, established in 1864, had been a major tourist attraction in the Merchant's House Museum where it was manned by trust volunteers. There thousands of visitors could see the pharmacy, try their hand at old fashioned pill-rolling (and earn a certificate of proficiency in the art of pill rolling) and talk to the volunteer stewards on duty. A weekend event held at the Merchant's House Museum Pharmacy is Phun, attracted record numbers of visitors. The pharmacy was televised Nationally to over 8 million viewers when Park Pharmacy Trust became the joint United Kingdom winner in the Tourism and Heritage categories of the BBC's ''It's My City!'' competition. In fact, Plymouth, because of Park Pharmacy Trust, became the only winning city in the south of England. The C J Park pharmacy display is currently in store and the Merchant’s House is closed following extensive repairs to the structure of the building. ​ Park Pharmacy Trust has ambitious plans to develop a major tourist attraction: Plymouth Heritage Health Science Exploratory (THE EXPLORATORY) in which the C J Park pharmacy display will be rebuilt. This is the way the pharmacy purchased by Mr Charles Park in 1875, looked in 1864. It was then at no. 1 Mutley plain. It is thought that Mr Park moved the pharmacy to number 23 Mutley Plain around 1879. The original shop had four carboys (big glass bottles) in the window whereas at 23 Mutley Plain there was only room for three carboys. The fourth carboy was found in the hayloft and is in the collection of Park Pharmacy Trust and will be included in the C J Park display in the Plymouth Health Science Exploratory. . Mr Charles Park (third from right) with his staff around 1910 and the delivery boy on the left, who worked for the Park family for 40 years was known as ‘Park’s Express’.