The Southwark News has reported that several small traders at the Elephant Arcade are to be evicted. The traders were relocated to the Arcade from the Elephant and Castle Shopping Centre, when it was closed in September 2020. The Arcade is a converted indoor carpark at the bottom of Perronet House, a council housing block.
Around six traders have been told by the Arcade's operator, Meanwhile Space, that they will have to leave by the end of August. Two traders have established successful businesses in the Arcade, the Black Cowboy Coffee and Lucy's Hair and Beauty and will remain there, with Southwark Council as their new landlords.
Traders who spoke to Southwark News said that lack of custom and low footfall has left them struggling to make a profit. House of Trainers owner Al Hussein had been trading at the Elephant for 15 years. He said people did not know that there were businesses in the Arcade and was critical of Meanwhile Space for not providing better signage. Meklit Tadese, of Meklit Fashion, said how shocked she was to have to leave the Arcade.
Southwark News reports Southwark Council as saying that it supported Meanwhile Space's decision to end their lease for the Arcade. Businesses had struggled and traders would be given an 'exit package'. The Council planned to 'repurpose' the space as a community centre.
Local charity Latin Elephant advocates for all local independent traders in the area and was critical of the decision. They said: 'Traders have been trying for almost 5 years to get Southwark Council and Meanwhile Space to improve conditions and encourage footfall at Elephant Arcade'.
'If traders’ legitimate concerns and suggestions had been listened to and acted on effectively, these businesses would have had a much greater chance at thriving in the challenging conditions of development and relocation'.
'Southwark Council owes it to the traders they are in the process of displacing to support them in finding alternative affordable retail space in the area.'
What we say...not the first evictions
The loss of these traders marks a failure of Southwark Council's relocation policy for small businesses displaced by regeneration [^1]. The Elephant Arcade evictions also follow the evictions of four traders from Elephant Square, another relocation site, just over a year ago. Both sets of traders cite the same reasons for their struggles to make a profit - low-footfall, difficult-to-find premises and lack of good signage .
While the Elephant Square site is at least visible, most of the shops in Elephant Arcade are tucked away out of sight of passing pedestrians, which was always going to make it difficult for them to attract custom. Both Southwark Council and Meanwhile Space should have recognised this and done much more to support those traders. It is noteworthy that the two businesses that have successfully re-established themselves are not only an excellent cafe and hairdresser, but are also completely visible to anyone walking by on the street.
The traders themselves were well aware of the problems of their situation and repeatedly asked for improved signage and other changes, but to no avail, as our good friends Latin Elephant have noted in their comments to Southwark News. Latin Elephant also noted the risk of low footfall in its recent assessment of the impact of the shopping centre traders' relocation.
No-one can say for certain that all the traders would have prospered if their requests had been met, but given their track-record of trading in the area before relocation, they would at least have had a fighting-chance of success.
Both Elephant Square and Elephant Arcade are two relocation sites that were secured by the local community and the UptheElephant campaign in the battle against the shopping centre demolition [^2]. The traders who remain in Elephant Square are now hopeful that they will be able to move to premises in the completed Town Centre.
Southwark Council and Get Living, the Square's landlords, must now work with traders to ensure that this happens, and meantime give them the support they need to stay in business.
The Elephant Arcade evictions must be the last.
Footnotes:
[^1] The current business relocation policy, which came into effect in 2022, after the Elephant trader relocation can be found in the Southwark Plan 2022, policy P33.
[^2] A third site is Ash Avenue, Elephant Park. Independent traders also remain in the railway arches and the shopping parade beneath Drapers House.