Elephant and Castle is a big road junction in south London. It has been always an important road intersection and till now is a district with few open spaces. The area is under a very big but controversial redevelopment programme. Key features of the Elephant and Castle framework for development include the demolition of the shopping centre and Heygate Estate.
Nursery Row Park is very close to the Heygate estate and it is located largely on the site of a Plant Nursery which closed in the 1840s. Formally established as Walworth Rec in 1890s. It was extended in 1970s to its current size.
There have been plans on building a big part of the park. The ‘Friends of Nursery Row Park’ is a community group of people that mainly live close to the area. It was formed in order to protect and enhance the park and to help ensure that the Elephant regeneration programme will respect the interests of the existing and future users of this open space.
Photography and audio by Dionysis Kouris, 2010.