THE occupation of one of south London’s most historic pubs set to be turned into an estate agency had its first taste of victory yesterday as The Elephant & Castle was listed as a community asset.
As previously reported by the Star, the heir to the original tavern — credited with giving the south London neighbourhood its name — was shut down in January after having its license revoked.
Last Wednesday a group of housing campaigners reclaimed the site and transformed it into an ad-hoc community centre in response to local anger over the confirmation that estate agency Foxtons were set to buy the premises.
One of the E&C Community Centre squatters going by the name of Rav told the Star that despite the pub now being listed as an asset of community value the group was not going to leave.
“I think it’s really good that this has happened — we’re here until it’s guaranteed.
“Until someone comes in and says ‘Look I’m going to turn it into a community centre, I legally own it’ or the council decides to make us the community centre and we can have this building for free, we’re here.”
He added that the local community is “extremely supportive.
“We’ve had tables outside — everyone comes, they all have a problem with the rise in rents and being forced out.
“People are very supportive, 100 per cent, there’s no one that said anything bad about this [occupation].”
Other occupiers recounted how people have come into the squat with food and messages of support.
For a weekend barbecue a local restaurant provided the grill and occupiers held a community party with live music.
Every morning the centre hosts a neighborhood breakfast for passers-by.
The application for The Elephant & Castle to be considered a community asset came from local advocacy group the Walworth Society at the 11th hour.
Its acceptance by Southwark Council was greeted with much enthusiasm by the group’s Diana Cochrane, who said: “The Elephant, Walworth and the Old Kent Road used to host around 200 public houses serving the local community and hosting their social events as well as welcoming people passing through our area.
“There are now less than 20 pubs left so we need to safeguard these to allow them to become pubs and entertainment places for the future.”

