Welcome to Hotel Elephant

A sketch of a bustling market scene with various stalls, people, and products displayed. The building shows the arches of Spare street with people working inside the studio and coworking space.

Flexible, Affordable Creative Workspaces in Elephant & Castle.

Hotel Elephant is a not-for-profit workspace provider, based in Southwark with over 14 years of experience delivering workspace, exhibitions, events, and education spaces in the Elephant and Castle. Our goal is to provide and safeguard long-term space for arts, culture, and creative enterprise in London.

Spaces Available Now

  • Close up of desk space at Hotel Elephant's coworking space

    Book A Day Pass

    Rent a desk for the day at Spare Street Works. Ideal for those looking for an ad hoc desk space to work from.

    Discounts are available for blocks of 5 & 10 passes.

    Available Monday - Friday 9 am- 5:30 pm. Book by 8 am for same-day bookings. Each day pass gives you access to one desk for the day, high-speed wifi and free tea & coffee.

    Click the button below to book a day pass at Spare Street Works.

  • Office & Desk Space

    Spare Street Works is your local coworking space, by Hotel Elephant.

    Flexible desk and office spaces for individuals and small teams. Our 4 and 6-person office units are a great option for start-ups and small teams. For larger teams, we have one 26-desk space available.

    All spaces come fully furnished, with high-speed wifi, utilities, and perks like unlimited tea and coffee.

  • Studio Space

    Explore our available studio spaces in Southwark. Ideal for artists, makers, and those in the creative industries.

    We have five studio locations in Elephant & Castle, SE17 and Borough, SE1.

    Studio Spaces are advertised as a total monthly price, including utilities and communal services. Different contracts are available including one-month, three-month and 12-month options.

  • Meeting & Event Spaces

    See a list of our available hire spaces in Elephant and Castle, SE17. We have three spaces available including our mezzanine meeting space, our hall project space and our cafe/bar, Sidecar Coffee Bar.

  • "This is a great team with a lovely space and positive ethos. Everyone was super helpful and really friendly. The coffee and treats at the bar were delicious too. Clearly committed to supporting the community and artists I would recommend supporting them if you need a friendly space near Elephant & Castle."

    Stephen - 5-star Google review

  • “Very grateful to Hotel Elephant and The Design Trust for creating a program and event that led me through the exact steps I needed to take to take part in the market event successfully! I will be able to carry what I have learnt forward as I grow my business. A totally positive experience - thankyou!”

    – Esme Tanner

  • "We've loved being here now for 2 months and no plans to change. Friendly staff and great coffee next door!"

    Michael - 5-star Google review

  • "I’ve loved being in the arch and taking part in the Hotel Elephant events!"

    Recent Studio Member

Wide angle image of Spare streets coworking arch. Showing modern and well lit office spaces.

Spare Street Works, SE17

  • Spare Street Works is your local coworking space, by Hotel Elephant. Based in Elephant and Castle, South London, Spare Street Works provides flexible desk and office space for individuals and small teams.

    Fed up of working from home? Our day passes and dedicated desks are ideal for freelancers and remote workers looking for a productive workplace close to home. Our 4 and 6-person office units are a great option for start-ups and small teams. For larger teams, we have one 26-desk space available.

    All our desk and office units are provided fully furnished, on flexible contracts with high-speed wifi, utilities and a postal address included. All members benefit from great perks such as unlimited free tea and coffee, a free bookable meeting space, plus 10% off in our cafe.

    Located on the edge of Zone 1, we are just a 5-minute walk from Elephant and Castle station, which is served by the Bakerloo and Northern lines, plus the overground. London Bridge and Waterloo Stations are less than 15 minutes away by public transport, with Central London easily accessible on many bus and tube routes.

Locations

Image of a studio modern studio space at Hotel Elephant spare street studios. Image shows person working at a desk creating colourful drawings.

Spare Street Studios, SE17

  • Spare Street is made up of five newly refurbished, glazed-fronted railway arches. Providing 24 studio spaces for recent graduates and local creatives, we are pleased to be able to offer a permanent creative enterprise hub in the Elephant & Castle.

    Arch 4 is dedicated to ‘noisy & messy’ work and Arch is dedicated to ‘quiet & clean’ work. Studio members get 24/7 access and high-speed Wifi. The studios host a wide range of practices from fine artists, costume makers, jewellers and digital creatives.

Image of a school courtyard of a victorian style building. Image is of Hotel Elephant St Johns in Southwark.

St Johns School, SE17

  • We are pleased to be able to offer high-quality spaces in this historic, former school building. St Johns provides workspaces for artists, makers, and small creative businesses.

    All our spaces have lots of natural light, heating, wifi, and access to communal facilities such as kitchens, wash-out sinks, and a bookable project space for our members.

Image of the outside of the building of Hotel Elephant Harper Road near London Bridge.

23 Harper Road, SE1

  • Hotel Elephant has three studio buildings in SE1, just a short walk from Borough and Elephant and Castle tube station.

    All our studio units have natural light, 24-hour access, wifi and are available on a rolling monthly basis. Most spaces are available to share, please refer to the studio details for more information.

21 Harper Road, SE1

  • Hotel Elephant has three studio buildings in SE1, just a short walk from Borough and Elephant and Castle tube station.

    Neighbouring our studio building at no. 23, 21 Harper Road is a two-story former office building that offers self-contained studios for artists, makers and small creative businesses.

Newington Causeway, SE1

  • Hotel Elephant has three studio buildings in SE1, just a short walk from Borough and Elephant and Castle tube station.

    At 1-5 Newington Causeway we provide studios in a former office building and Doctors Surgery spread across three floors. The workspace provision also includes two shop fronts, 7 & 9 Newington Causeway. These former shops have been re-imagined by our members as a hybrid Work/Shop by Oh James (unit 7) and exhibition space by Qystal Partners (unit 9)

    All our spaces have 24-hour access and wifi. Utilities are charged in addition. Contracts are available on a rolling monthly basis.

Find Your New Space

Meet Our Members

 FAQ’s

  • No, despite the name, we’re not a Hotel! Hotel Elephant is a not-for-profit company established in 2009 to provide space for Arts, Culture & Creative Enterprise in Southwark. Hotel Elephant started life as our co-founder, Reuben’s studio and education space. The name, Hotel Elephant, was the title of an exhibition of large-scale drawings of the Elephant & Castle demolition sites. The name was inspired by a set of large red neon letters from the top of the old London Park Hotel, one of the demolition sites Reuben had been drawing. Reuben had been given some of these letters, which were featured as part of the exhibition and have formed part of our signage ever since. Some of the letters can be seen illuminated at the front of our arches on Spare Street.

  • We are spread across a few locations in the Elephant and Castle area. Our primary location is Spare Street (SE17) where we offer both studio spaces and coworking space. In the Summer of 2022 we opened a new workspace building in a former primary school, St Johns Walworth, both our SE17 spaces are a short 5-7 minute walk from Elephant and Castle tube station. We also have a cluster of studio buildings in SE1; 23 Harper Road, 21 Harper Road and 1-5 Newington Causeway. Our SE1 locations are 5 minutes walk from Borough tube station and less than 15 minutes from London Bridge station.

  • You can make an enquiry about our studio spaces here, and we can discuss which of our studios might best suit your needs, and then we can organize a tour. For our office spaces, you can book a tour here and we can discuss which of our workspaces will suit you and your business.

  • We have a broad remit to provide studio spaces for people working within the arts and creative industries. This includes fine artists and makers, as well as people working in the design and digital creative industries. Our members include painters, costume designers, photographers, filmmakers, jewellery designers, animators and ceramicists.

    We understand that creative practices can be varied and would always encourage potential studio members to send us an enquiry to let us know what your requirements are. We’re always happy to help!

  • We have several different workspace offers, including studio, desk and office spaces.

    Our studio spaces are for artists and makers looking for a full-time space to make their work. Studio members include painters, costume makers, jewellers, ceramics and digital creatives.

    Our coworking space, Spare Street Works provides day passes, dedicated desks and offices for small teams (4 & 6 person spaces). We also have one large 26-desk space. Our coworking space is ideal for freelancers, remote workers, start-ups and growing businesses.

Need Help Finding Your New Space?