Oldest shop in Bridge of Allan

Popped into  my local pharmacy today and I was surprised to see it decked out with bunting with a banner bearing birthday wishes.

For Strathallan pharmacy in Bridge of Allan has two claims to fame.  First, it  is the oldest shop in this Victorian spa town  and this year celebrates its165th birthday.


Secondly, the  original pharmacist, Dr Gilbert Farie, is believed to have been the inspiration for  Robert Louis Stevenson’s Mr Hyde in the tale of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.

Certainly as a boy visiting the area  Stevenson would have known Dr Farie, a familiar and perhaps frightening figure for he was  a hunchback with a limp and a coarse manner. Dr Paterson, an altogether avuncular figure, was the local doctor and he became Dr Jekyll in this famous tale.

Meanwhile the chemist shop still retains the original wooden cabinets though they contain much more modern medicines today.

One advertisement from that era boasted the pharmacy sold “fresh leeches every week”.

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