Thursday, May 06, 2021
When in Elephant & Castle you should obviously go and look at the famous shopping centre, which is alas now the famous ex-shopping centre. It closed in September after 55 years, to the dismay of those who frequented its eclectic and cosmopolitan collection of shops across three austere levels. Vacated and fenced off, the building's days are very much numbered. I only took this photo on Sunday and by Tuesday a giant excavator had smashed the blue wall into rubble.
Walking around the perimeter, where the subways used to be and the roundabout no longer is, the stacked boxes all look somewhat forlorn. I particularly missed the elephant-with-a-castle-on-its-back statue, removed from its podium in January. Apparently it's off being 'pampered' and is due to reappear in Castle Square later in the year, in an attempt to placemake the pop-up units at Elephant Park (as mentioned yesterday). This is also where many of the traders evicted from the shopping centre have ended up, although only a minority and with much lower footfall and basically good luck to them.
What's coming when it's gone is towers and 461 flats, a quarter for social rent. What's coming when it's gone is smarter shops, restaurants and leisure facilities. What's coming when it's gone is a fresh hub for the London College of Communications. What's coming when it's gone is a new station entrance with step-free access to the Underground and Thameslink. What's not coming back is a diverse inexpensive shopping centre housed in a 60s wormhole, because you don't gentrify a neighbourhood by catering to those who already live here.
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