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Elephant and Castle, sometimes just called Elephant, is a District in the London Borough of Southwark.
Essentially, Elephant is a major road junction. In the early 20th century, Elephant was known as the ‘Piccadilly of South London’ for people to shop, socialise and seek entertainment.
The 1965 built shopping centre was the first 'covered in' type of its kind in the whole of Europe. It’s designers promised it would be the vision of futuristic retail. Ironically, it has remained largely unaffected by globalisation and maintains its tradition of independent businesses and stall holders for an ‘old school’ feel. Its main building was initially clad entirely in bright pink plastic which did not prove very popular with the locals.
The underground station stays true to its original form from its birth in 1890. It took the name from a tavern that stood here in the 18th century which displayed the symbol of an Elephant with a castle on its back as the emblem of the Cutlers Company. This image promoted the use of ivory in the production of knife handles as the site was originally a major blacksmiths.
The Metro Central Heights residential complex was built in 1959 as another example of the modernist, Brutalist style designed this time by Ernö Goldfinger; the inspiration for the famous James Bond super villain.
Elephant is known by many as London’s Latin American quarter, home to over 200,000 Peruvian, Ecuadorian, Bolivian, Colombian and Chilean residents who began settling here in the 1980s. It's an extremely diverse area, ethnically, and this is very well represented in its range of local businesses and food outlets.
The Strata SE1, or ‘Electric Razor’, stands at 486 feet and houses over 1000 residents. The top of the building features three large wind turbines installed at a cost of £1.5 million. Originally, they were intended to provide the building with up to 8% of its electricity. According to residents however, they hardly ever move and are extremely noisy when they do.
The London College of Communication, formerly the London College of Printing, is an internationally renowned part of the University of the Arts, London. The present structure was put together during the redevelopment of the area in the early 1960s. There are plans to wipe the Coronet Theatre and rebuild the College in its place once the shopping centre is eventually demolished.
In general, when people refer to Elephant, they usually also mean the two small encircling districts of Newington and Walworth.
East Street also known locally as 'The Lane', or 'East Lane', is a busy street market of 250 stalls in Walworth connecting Walworth Road to Old Kent Road. It's lively, colourful and diverse with an incredible variety offering mainly Caribbean grocery products, hair and beauty shops, fruit and vegetables, street food, materials and household goods. It's open every day except Monday. Charlie Chaplin was born on this street and raised in the local area.
The Brutalist designed Heygate Estate of 1974 was finally demolished in 2014. It was home to 3,000+ as a popular place to live before it fell into a life of crime, poverty and dilapidation. It's now being transformed into Elephant Park.