Locale Elephant And Castle
The area around Elephant and Castle Roundabout, known locally as 'The Elephant' or even just 'Elephant'.
Characterised by giant council blocks and post-war concrete monstrosities, the area is fairly unpleasant. There is a plan underway to redevelop the entire area. The outline of the plan describes the problem: A fragmented and disconnected urban form comprising a confused, disjointed and often inhospitable network of streets, routes and spaces that actually discourage and prevent through movement and use by pedestrians; a poor quality environment characterised and dominated by large volumes of through traffic; a hostile and bleak pedestrian environment comprising a confused network of poorly integrated pavements, subways and tunnels... crime and a fear of crime... high levels of poverty and social exclusion.
The Cross River Transit will pass through E&C when it's been built.
Curiously, there is a restaurant in New York named after it.
It is generally accepted (by some) that Elephant and Castle gets its name from a Spanish prince - El Infanto Castille. In fact this is a subject of much debate, for more see here, here, here and here.