Selbys Pharmacy, Uckfield

Context.
Today I was in Uckfield for the first in a series of Edinburgh Festival double bills I’ve programmed at The Picturehouse in Uckfield. (more details in the photo at the bottom of this post)

The Nitty Gritty.
I love big old pharmacies. They are second only to walls of stationery. This stems from growing up in Illogan where the only shops within walking distance were the corner shop, the garage and the chemist. Whole afternoons were spent staring at chewing gum, envelopes and corn plasters and I am eternally grateful to the proprieters for letting me and Iain spend hours mooching about and looking shifty, without buying anything. Selbys Pharmacy, High Street, Uckfield has an enormous front window, it’s as long as three ordinary shops and great promise lurks within. The window display today was of 80 different vanity mirrors. I swooned.

Inside, we weren’t disappointed. The top trump of pharmaceutical displays – A Flannel Carousel

And something I’ve never seen before – an austere cabinet of sinister instruments which on closer inspection turned out to be humdrum tweezers, nail scissors and your bog standard corn blades.

Selbys, you are a fine establishment and I will return. I probably won’t buy anything but I will study the non slip bath mat section like there’s no tomorrow.