A CHAIN of pharmacies launched by Bolton-born brothers Yakub and Anwar Patel 35 years ago is aiming to raise £35,000 for charities to celebrate the milestone.

The founders and joint managing directors opened the first Cohens pharmacy in Rochdale in 1979 and it now has 170 branches in the UK, mainly in Lancashire and Yorkshire.

Sixteen of those branches are in the Bolton area and the Cohens national headquarters is in Lynstock Way, Lostock.

The firm is one of only two privately owned multiple pharmacy chains in the UK top 10, with the rest operating as PLCs.

Finance director Craig Fishwick said the firm had sent 35th birthday cakes to all the branches — from Edinburgh in the north to Bristol in the south — as part of the celebrations.

Meanwhile, Cohens head of human resources, Nicola Byrne, is co-ordinating a national campaign to raise the corresponding £35,000 in the local communities served by the individual branches.

She said: “In the past we have worked mainly with national charities, like Diabetes UK, homeless group Crisis, Cancer Research and Help for Heroes.

“We raised £25,000 in the last 12 months, but we thought it would be good to do some enhanced charity work within the communities where our outlets are.

“We are asking our branches to select their local charities. The good cause might be a local school or an individual patient with specific needs.

“For example, our Cheetham Hill outlet has selected the Manchester Dogs’ Home destroyed by that awful fire recently.”

Cohens kick-started its campaign with the Macmillan Coffee Morning, raising more than £7,000.

Mr Fishwick is asking the public to follow the fundraising campaign on social media.

“We want people to engage with our fundraising activities as they go along,” he said.