Elephant and Castle Shopping Centre

Opened in 1965, Europe’s first covered shopping complex is brutalist architecture in the extreme. Unfortunately, the clean lines and geometric principles that created such dynamic buildings on smaller sites turned the uncompromisingly large shopping centre into an unwieldy mini metropolis dumped on a junction. Monolithic, windowless and with watermarks staining its paintwork, retail heaven it isn’t. No wonder Time Out readers once voted Elephant and Castle Shopping Centre the biggest eyesore in London. However time is up for the capital’s most dubious architectural icon in its current form. The most recent plans involve redeveloping the site (rather than demolishing it, as had been expected) to provide retail and residential space as part of the wider regeneration of Elephant and Castle.