Elephant and Castle

The Elephant and Castle is an area around a major road junction in South London, England, in the London Borough of Southwark. Though the name also informally refers to the areas of Walworth and Newington, the proximity of the London Underground station of the same has led to the area being more commonly called "Elephant and Castle". The name is derived from a local coaching inn."The Elephant", as locally abbreviated, consists of major traffic junctions connected by a short road called Elephant and Castle, part of the A3. Between these junctions, on the eastern side, is the Elephant and Castle Shopping Centre, with the Hannibal House office block above. To the north of this, bounded by Newington Causeway and New Kent Road is the large Metro Central Heights residential block. The 43-storey Strata residential block lies just south of the shopping centre on Walworth Road.Traffic runs to and from the south-east of England along the A2 (New Kent Road and Old Kent Road), the south of England on the A3, to the West End via St George's Road, and to the City of London via London Road and Newington Causeway at the northern junction. Newington Butts and Walworth Road adjoin the southern junction. The whole junction forms part of the London Inner Ring Road and part of the boundary of the London congestion charge zone.