Just read this thread and wanted to add a different point of view.
There isn't really an area called 'Elephant & Castle' - unless you mean the roundabout. There's Kennington, Borough, Newington, Walworth. The areas most of you seem to be warning the OP about are the roundabout and Walworth.
The area immediately around the roundabout has London's largest South American community, so if you look past the TRULY horrible architecture, you find lots of little cool South American cafes and restaurants under the railway arches. They're not particularly stylish, but they do really good food.
I live in Walworth and here are some things I really like about it:
- Some of the last remaining Victorian tenement buildings in London which house artist/crafstman studios (e.g. iliffeyard.co.uk/, www.pullensyards.co.uk/)
- Lovely architecture such as St Peter's Church architected by Sir John Sloane (in the snow: www.flickr.com/photos/greg75/3246243895/), Liverpool Grove, Grovesnor Terrace, the little conservation area streets built by the Church Commissioners, Sutherland Square, the Old Bath House, Southwark Library, etc.
- East Street Market in general and esp its little flower market, much cheaper than Columbia Rd flower market and less full of tourists; real mix of market stall holders and shoppers; (but don't go expecting Brixton Village);
- The Cuming musem (when it reopens)
- Chumleigh gardens in Burgess Park are beautiful; if you haven't visited them before, definitely worth a trip and you'll wonder why they're not more famous (www.geograph.org.uk/photo/2697137)
- The Walworth Society (walworthsociety.co.uk/)
- Lots of little parks dotted around like Nursery Row
- A great Asian supermarket on Walworth Road which has so many ingredients if you want to try your hand at some pho/ramen
- Southwark Playhouse is going to be relocated to the area as part of the regeneration
And then if you get bored of Walworth:
-10 mins walk to two Zone 1/2 tube stations & a Thameslink station that's 4 mins by train from the Southbank
- 15 mins on foot from Bermondsey Street
- 15 to 20 min on foot from Borough market
- 30 mins on foot to London Bridge
- 40 mins on foot to the Southbank & West End
- Get pretty much anywhere in London day or night by direct bus;
There's also Elefest:
www.elefest.org/
The Walworth Rd is actually made up of some pretty nice buildings; sure the Cashinos & Pound Shops are depressing, but no more than the ones you find in Brixton, Peckham, Camberwell. But it also has G Baldwin & Co, an apothecary/herbalist that has been open for over 160 years, a smart florists, lots of independent grocery stores (most of them pretty run down tbf but milk is milk), and the usual high street shops: an M&S, a Superdrug, an Argos, Morrisons, etc. So it's a mix, like most of SE London.
So ... I'm not claiming that Walworth is the most beautiful part of London. It's definitely rundown, shabby, etc. But because of that, it's one of the last parts of central London which has a real mix of people. There's actually still a small community of old original cockney Londoners in Walworth. Then there's a huge multicultural mix of newer residents who all get on surprisingly well. The housing estates are really ugly and they have crime issues, but no worse than those in Hackney, Peckham or Camberwell. And unless you decide to go join a gang or buy some drugs, you're not particularly in danger. The estates also give people who aren't rich access to central London - and that includes students, artists, academics, healthcare workers, etc. The estate maisonettes tend to be large and have lots of light so the residents are actually campaigning against them being pulled down. If the council looked after them a bit better, they wouldn't be so darn ugly. My biggest fear is that the regeneration is going to screw up the area and make it unaffordable to those who live there currently and just plain soulless. I got a brochure through the post the other day offering people in the Aylesbury Estate the opportunity to bid for a home in the new development that's replacing their current homes - lucky them!
There are some social problems, but also a sense of community which I haven't found in other parts of London.
Sorry for the long post! I don't want everyone to move to Walworth or E&C. I want it to stay pretty much as it is. But if you, or any of your friends, happen to be moving there, and you aren't rich bankers who want to bring along identikit chain stores and a branch of Carluccios (instead of brilliant La Luna, lalunapizzeria.com/La_Luna_Pizzeria/Home.html), then welcome and don't worry you're not going to get stabbed as soon as you step out of the tube.
And I wanted to point out some of these great things to the rest of you so you can come and visit some time - if you can look beyond the 1960s ugliness, you may find some things you like :)