NEW jobs have been brought to York with the promise of more on the way thanks to an award-winning entrepreneur who has opened a late-night pharmacy in the area.

Ashley Cohen has created 15 jobs and hopes to bring more to Acomb after he joined forces with York’s Priory Medical Group to provide 100-hours-per week pharmacy cover at the group’s Cornlands Road clinic.

The Priory Pharmacy is the fourth branch opened by the Leeds businessman in only two-and-a-half years, a success story which saw him scoop the Businessman Of The Year award in the Independent Pharmacy Awards 2008.

Following his first successful week of business in Acomb, the 37-year-old explained why he had chosen the area to set up his latest venture.

“With doctors holding surgeries later into the evening now, if you come out of a consultation there’s nowhere for people in Acomb to take a prescription apart from Monk’s Cross,” he said.

“I definitely saw a gap for this in Acomb. I have been looking for areas where we can provide, what I call, an old-fashioned, back-to-basics service. Acomb is one of those self-contained villages but a lot of multi-nationals have moved in.”

He added: “I saw a decline in the number of independent pharmacies within communities who embraced traditional, old-fashioned family values and provided a bespoke service to their customers.”

Mr Cohen was also confident about bucking the economic downturn to bring jobs to the area.

“We have taken on 15 new staff and expect to extend that to 20 in the next few months,” he said.

“It’s nice to have a success story, and most of the staff we have are from within two or three miles of the shop.”

The Priory Medical Group is one of the largest family based GP groups in England with almost one in three York residents currently registered with the Priory Medical Centre.

Dr Lesley Godfrey, managing partner at the Priory Medical Group, said of the collaboration: “The opening of the Priory Pharmacy compliments and enhances the Priory model of integrated healthcare by providing GP, nursing, therapeutic and community services from a single site.”