Let's get to know each other

Back in the day

Our success on the high street didn’t just happen by accident. It’s the result of a very long and eventful history.

The history of modern day Boots UK can be traced back to the entrepreneurial spirit of two men: Jesse Boot and Edgar Moss. Jesse, as you can probably deduce from his name, along with his wife Florence was the driving force behind Boots. While Edgar was the man behind Moss Chemists; a company that was bought by UniChem Plc, who in turn merged with Alliance Santé, to form Alliance UniChem, who merged with Boots Group PLC to form Alliance Boots. The ambition and drive of these two men still exists in Alliance Boots today, and our Group's mission to become the world's leading pharmacy-led health and beauty group would certainly be one that they shared.

The Boot family began selling herbal remedies from a small store in Goose Gate, Nottingham, back in 1849. After employing a number of qualified pharmacists, we eventually built a network of over 180 stores by 1900.

A couple of years later, Edgar Moss qualified as a pharmacist, and in 1915 bought his first pharmacy business in Feltham, Middlesex. By 1950, he had opened 25 branches, and had a central fleet of vehicles based at Fern Grove. And then in 2005, the Moss Pharmacy business announced that it was re-branding all of its stores as Alliance Pharmacy. On 31 July 2006, when Alliance UniChem merged with Boots Group, our businesses were brought even closer together and became fully integrated on 1 April 2008 with the creation of Boots UK.

Today, our stores range from smaller local pharmacies to larger, high street and edge-of-town health and beauty stores. As far as we’re concerned, it’s all about putting the pharmacist at the heart of healthcare within our local communities. Please visit www.boots-uk.com for more information.