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Above - An article from the Illustrated London News of April the 3rd 1965 on the opening of the then new Elephant & Castle Shopping Centre. - Captions Read: The new shopping centre is dominated by and 11-storey office block. Two basement floors are reserved for cars. One of four natural-lighted courts in the arcade. Bronze elephant and castle taken from an old pub. Escalators take shoppers up the three-storey arcade. South Londoners can shop away from the noisy traffic in over 100 stores in the new section of the rebuilding scheme.

A three-storey shopping arcade, the latest part of the giant Elephant and Castle rebuilding scheme, was opened last week by Mr. Ray Gunter. Minister of Labour. After he had unveiled a bronze statue of an elephant carrying a castle on its back, taken from an old public house which is now demolished, South London shoppers soon thronged the 115 stores, many of them taken by local traders, lining the covered courts. The top floor is roofed with glass, which can be drawn back in sunny weather to provide an open-air concourse. Part of the attraction of this £21 million scheme is that shoppers are moved from the noisy, dangerous traffic circling one of London's busiest roundabouts. The G.L.C. hope that the new Elephant and Castle, once completed, will become the shopping, business and recreation centre for South London.

Text and Image from the Illustrated London News of April the 3rd 1965.

Above - The Elephant & Castle shopping Centre in July 2008 - Photo M.L.

The Elephant and Castle area is currently undergoing major redevelopment, by 2014 the site will be unrecognisable and the much disliked shopping centre will be gone. A website featuring all the details and dates for the regeneration can be found here...

See also in this area:

The Elephant & Castle Theatre / Coronet

The Trocadero Super Cinema