Elephant and Castle has always been home
And the shopping centre….a second home
A crumbling beauty
A sanctuary for our community
What will be home without its pink elephant and tower?

Elephant and Castle has always been home
The market stall owners…a second family
Who watched us grow
Providing like parents do
What will be home without their smiles and tenacity

Elephant and Castle has always been home
The sounds of samba,
smells of jerk chicken and thai noodles…
Independence at its finest
What will be home without our physical memories

The shopping trips with mama
Running down aisles among books and toys
The hustle and bustle of crowds
The ice-lollies you could only get at Iceland
Bowling with friends
What will be home without our physical memories

Elephant and Castle has always been home
The Coronet cinema; an evolving heirloom
A gem of history
That time never forgot
Heritage, Charlie Chaplin’s essence, raucous laughter all rolled into one
What will be home without its greatness and imperfection

But they said it was the ‘Elephant in the Room’
Make it a Piccadilly’ they said ‘But we’ve already got one’, we say
‘London’s only got one pink elephant and a tower’
‘Let it stay’
‘There must be another way’

Elephant and Castle has always been home
And the shopping centre…a second home
A crumbling beauty
A sanctuary for our community
What will be home without its pink elephant and tower?