Elephant & Castle Shopping Centre

With the exception of the tesco express, I can’t imagine ever going to any of the other shops. They’re mostly selling tacky products which I can’t imagine many people buying (and as I’ve hardly ever seen anyone in there, it’s possible I’m right). I’ll probably just stick to walking through to get to the station!

As a tourist from Southern California who recently rented a flat in the neighborhood across the causeway from this centre, I have to say I became fascinated by the place. It’s scary. It’s gritty. It’s real. It’s different from anything I have experienced in the states (except maybe the JJ Newberry in 1950’s Los Angeles). From reading up on the place I learned that it was earmarked for destruction at least nine years ago. It’s been called the ugliest structure in London. And yet it still stands. I found it handy for grabbing some breakfast items from Tesco, some cough medicine at the pharmacy, and enjoyed a pretty decent meal at the Castle Tandoori.

Wenn ich einen London Tagesausflug mache, strande ich meist in Elephant & Castle. Ich laufe einfach vom Tower Hill über die Tower Bridge und nehme den ersten Bus. Normalerweise steige ich in Elephant & Castle nur in die Tube um, letztens hatte ich aber sehr Hunger und wollte mal ins Shopping Centre rein schauen.
Ein anderer Bericht beschreibt ein «Ghetto-​Feeling». Ja, das kann ich bestätigen.
Nur kleine billig-​Lädchen. Die Wechselstube in dem Centre wollte 15 € fürs Geld wechseln habe (100EUR in GBP).
Dort habe ich nix gefunden, weshalb ich nochmal rein müsste.
Sogar die Toiletten sind grottig, und kosten.
Es war aber irgendwie aufregend. In dem Centre war morgens kaum einer drin, ich war alleine, und habe mich echt fremd gefühlt :D

Knightsbridge, Oxford Street, Bond Street, Harrods. Man kennt alle die Konsumtempel und Shopping Streets und fragt sich bei den hohen Preisen: wo kaufen denn die ärmeren Leute und wo wohnen die ?.
Man fährt mit der U-​Bahn nach Elephant and Castle und geht ins Einkaufscenter und weiß wo. Hier sind die etnischen Minderheiten die Mehrheit, auf einer offenen Fläche ein Tischtennistisch und die Läden sind auch entsprechend. Man fühlt sich wie in einem Ghetto, doch auf keinen Fall unsicher.
Sehenswert nicht, doch wenn man Zeit hat, kann man ja mal 30 Minuten hierhin.

The Elephant and Castle shopping centre is hilarious. It must be one of the only shopping centres in the country where nearly every unit is still full (what it’s full of doesn’t need to be discussed at too much length), and nobody can quite understand why. It’s drab, it’s one of London’s ugliest buildings, it has a curious smell and to an outsider it’s quite scary.
But it has a 99p store, and it’s in zone 1, and it’s just an experience. Not an experience you’d necessarily care to repeat, but just for sheer awfulness, everybody should go at least once!

The elephant and castle shopping centre just looks like a ruin. It stinks and isn’t really welcoming.
I just sometimes go there, but only because I need to.
If one has the choice, just passes his way…

if I want to feel like your not in england Elephant and castle shopping center will do the trick… english speaking is not so common here… I was searching for the uk visa office and everyone was telling me the wrong directions and looking at my all confused! it was just around the corner people! finally i asked some cops and they showed me… the office is in the shopping centre. I got harrassed by some straight of the boat africans selling stuff in the stalls… and I was the only caucasian girl so people where looking at me pretty strange and the men wouldnt stop trying to talk to me… def not a place I wanna go to again… everything is run down too… i didnt feel safe at all… i felt like it was more of a middle eastern bazaar

Have you ever wondered what it would be like if you could travel back in time and go to a shopping centre in the middle of the 80s depression? Well, you need to wonder no longer, you can just visit the Elephant and Castle Shopping Centre!
½ the shops were closed for business, and I have absolutely no idea what the other ½ were trying to sell. The carpets, lights and fixtures all looked 80s tastic, it even smelt like the 80s.
This is not so good as a shopping centre, but it is like going to one of them historical reconstructions– except this time it is real!

The shopping centre that time forgot. Awful.

The shopping centre that time forgot. Apparently it was painted pink for comic relief. Funny? Not as funny as the actual shopping centre. Now don’t get me wrong, the shops in the centre are not bad. I use the Tesco’s and Iceland quite a bit. There’s a peacocks, a boots and a few pound shops (all attempting to under cut each other, so there is a 98p store!)The actual shopping centre desperately need re-​doing. This is not only public knowledge but plans have been drawn up for a new shopping centre, although this never seems to be actually started.

Elephant & Castle shopping centre is one of those places you go to because you are in the area, not because you want to!
It’s easy to find, Elephant & Castle underground station on the Bakerloo /​Northern line, take the shopping centre exit and walk up the ramp as you exit the station… you’re there.
Don’t expect shops such as Fraser Hart, Debenhams or Subway. The majority of shops are high street chains like Woolworths (for as long as they exist now anyway), Tesco (metro) and other small privateers.
If you work in the immediate area and need to get some lunch or last minute shopping then you’ll probably find it here.
Xmas shopping it definately isn’t.

Holeprefix swearword. That was my original view of this shopping centre. I mean it is pink too. It was in my view the worst shopping centre on the planet. It has a tesco and a rather horrid market. That was the appeal. Upstairs? don’t even bother. It scared me as a child.
Nowadays, now I know this centre has a short lifespan I really have conquered my middle-​class suburban fears and embraced the urban charm of this shopping centre. So what if the upstairs area is a place where English is the second language, with greasy spoon caffs, south american bars, shops, grocery store and and money transfer, internet cafes and bizzare bowling and bingo outlets. Isn’t that what shopping centres are for?
Downstairs is like most shopping centres. A Tesco, a branch of boots. The market outside is pretty random, but then so are some of the discount shops on the ground floor. What really gets me though is that if you want to change between the rail and tube stations you have to walk through the shopping centre.
PS — Need business cards in a hurry, there is a machine on the upper floors here, which you can design and print them in under 30mins. Pretty handy I have found before.
PPS — Read the entrance sign. No door to door salesmen. Got that? Good.

There is something about this shopping centre that always makes me want to get off my bus and go inside but the minute I walk in there, I regret it. I personally do not get a good feeling and it looks like there has been no proper maintenance in years. A lot of busses tends to pass this shopping centre and it has a underground stop just next door to the shopping centre. A lot of people are more drawn to Walworth Road instead of this shopping centre which is a shame as it is situated in a great location. This shopping centre needs a lot of TLC to make it a booming hub again.

This is a really small shopping centre though full of a lot of different kind of shops that you may need. It has a Tesco, Iceland’s, shoe shops, card shops all on the lower level on the 2^nd level it has a food court and then above this you can go to the local place bingo or for a fun night of bowling. Though it is a little dirty looking which is what I don’t like about it. There also is a very small market outside.