Elephant and Castle is the closest of our area pages to our own base, a few minutes down the road from Bear Lane in SE1. It's also one of the most changed places in London. The pink shopping centre that stood here for sixty years has gone, the northern roundabout has been replaced by open streets, and new towers, a new town centre and a new campus for the London College of Communication are rising in their place. Two universities and thousands of students sit at its heart. Minibus hire Elephant and Castle customers book is mostly students and societies, with field trips, fixtures, nights out and runs to the airports.
Elephant and Castle sits in Southwark, where six roads meet between Waterloo, Kennington, Walworth and Borough. From our base, it's about five to ten minutes outside the rush hour, which makes early starts and short-notice bookings easier than almost anywhere else.
Minibus hire Elephant and Castle for LSBU groups
London South Bank University's campus spreads around Borough Road, London Road and Keyworth Street, and its students study everything from engineering and nursing to sports science and business. Societies, sports clubs and departments book us for fixtures, conferences, competitions and days out.
Sports teams travel to university league fixtures across London and the south-east. Nursing and health students, many of them on placements, book us for conferences and study days. For a student booking, give us the headcount, where you're heading and the date, and we'll price it.
London College of Communication
The London College of Communication, part of the University of the Arts London, teaches design, film, photography, journalism and media, and it's moving into a new building at the heart of the redevelopment. Students and staff book us for location shoots, exhibitions, degree shows and trips to festivals and galleries.
A film crew with cameras, lights, tripods and costumes needs space in the back as well as seats, so tell us what you're bringing and we'll check what fits. For an early shoot, our base being so close makes a six o'clock pickup straightforward.
Field trips and days out
University departments and student groups book us for field trips and days out across the south of England. Brighton is about an hour and a quarter away, the Seven Sisters and Beachy Head about an hour and a half, and Oxford and Cambridge about an hour and a half.
For a long day out, the driver drops at the destination and returns at an agreed time. Minibus hire Elephant and Castle societies book for an overnight trip is planned around the driver's hours, with the return confirmed before departure.
The Imperial War Museum and Ministry of Sound
The Imperial War Museum, in the old Bethlem Hospital building on Lambeth Road, is a few minutes' walk away, and school groups from across the country visit for history lessons. It's free, and its First World War and Holocaust galleries are among the most visited by secondary schools. Ministry of Sound, on Gaunt Street, is one of the world's most famous nightclubs, and groups of friends and student societies book us to get there and home.
For a club night, the driver collects from halls or homes, drops near the club and comes back at the agreed time, usually long after midnight. Pickups happen on a quieter street nearby, agreed in advance.
Elephant Park and the new town centre
Elephant Park, a new park at the centre of the redevelopment, has a water play area and a playground, and on summer weekends it makes an easy meeting point for a family outing. The new streets around it have restaurants, cafés and the Electric Shuffle and other bars. Castle Square and the market by the station host food stalls from all over the world. The Strata tower, with its three wind turbines on the roof, still stands above everything.
Families and community groups in Walworth and the Elephant book us for weddings, christenings, church conventions and seaside outings, and Latin American families around the Elephant book us for quinceañeras and family parties.
The junctions and the Congestion Charge
The Elephant and Castle junction is still one of the busiest in south London, with the Old Kent Road, the New Kent Road, Walworth Road, Kennington Park Road, London Road and Newington Butts meeting around it, along with bus lanes and cycleways. Stopping close to the junction is very limited, so pickups happen on side streets. The area sits on the edge of the Congestion Charge zone, and trips north over the river during charging hours carry the charge on the quote.
London City Airport is about twenty-five minutes away, Heathrow about fifty minutes to an hour and Gatwick about an hour.
For minibus hire in Elephant and Castle, call 020 7183 0567.