PLAZA

OLIVER HERBERT & EDWARD SIMPSON

PLAZALONDON.WORDPRESS.COM

GALLERIA

GALLERIA

Scheduled for demolition in 2012, Elephant and Castle Shopping Centre in South East London was once the “largest and most ambitious shopping venture ever to be em-barked upon in London. In design planning and vision it represents an entirely new approach to retailing, setting standards for the sixties that will revolutionise shopping concepts throughout Britain.”

Opened in 1965 and designed by architects Boissenvain & Osmond, Elephant and Cas-tle was the first ever covered shopping mall in Europe, sadly now the venture is winding down and only a few defient Telegiros, Pol-ish restaurants and nail bars remain.

Elephant and Castle has always struggled to live up to it’s promise of becoming ‘the Picadilly of the south’ it was even painted pink in 1999 to drive profits and push sales, but this sadly didn’t change it’s fortunes.

I must say, however hated it is by many of the new young professionals moving into the nearby ‘contemporary’ apartments, I still love it.