Prescription for pharmacy is listing and a new name

Pharmacy, the London restaurant opened last year by artist Damien Hirst and public relations man Matthew Freud, is in talks to join the stock market through a reverse takeover.

Under the deal, the restaurant would be sold to Hartford, which has a place on the Alternative Investment Market, to obtain a listing.

The Notting Hill venue is valued at around £10m.

Freud, whose public relations clients have included disc jockey Chris Evans, former Spice Girl Geri Halliwell and a string of restaurants including the Hard Rock Café and Planet Hollywood, said the listing could be used to develop other restaurants.

Quo Vadis, the Soho restaurant where some of Hirst's works are displayed, could also be bought by the company, he said.

Pharmacy has just resolved a disagreement with the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain, which was threatening to prosecute the owners for the use of the word "pharmacy".

The society said that the restaurant had been confused for a real chemist by several people, and it warned that misuse of the word could open the way for unscrupulous people to set up "quackeries" under the name.

Pharmacy has agreed to change the name to Pharmacy Restaurant and Bar to end the confusion.