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 named Spare Street after Austin Osman Spare, who was an Edwardian portrait artist who lived and exhibited locally until he died in 1956. His work was influenced by symbolism and art nouveau, his work is known for its strong composition and line. His subject matter often includes portraiture and allegorical landscapes that allude to classical mythology.

We opened Spare street in July 2016 as the first permanent Creative Enterprise hub in the Elephant & Castle! Since then we have provided a total of 8,750 sqft of workspace including a public space & cafe across five renovated railway arches.

Here at Hotel Elephant, we are a small but enthusiastic team! The company is run by its founders and directors, Reuben and Emily. Reuben is an artist whose work is primarily drawing and painting, most recently focusing on the theme of boats and the sea. Emily also has an arts background study Drawing at Camberwell College of Arts and started working at Hotel Elephant organizing exhibitions and assisting with teaching projects whilst at university. Alongside working on the longer-term strategy and exciting future plans, Reuben and Emily can often be seen around our workspace buildings conducting tours and chatting with members.

Our directors are supported by Judie who runs the office, prepares paperwork and invoices, liaising with our members, and generally being an indispensable superstar! Our social media manager Louise, helps to create and schedule our content writing blog posts and newsletters to keep everyone up to date with our activities.

And we can’t talk about our team without mentioning our colleagues at Sidecar Coffee Bar. A talented team of baristas and tasty toastie makers, fuelling our working day and lifting our spirits on those cold grey days. Thank you for all the coffee we couldn’t do it without you!

You’ve come to the right place! We have two spaces available - one is at our cafe & bar space at Spare Street SE17 and the other is our basement project space at our Harper Road SE1 studios.

Our Spare Street space can host exhibitions, film screenings, talks, workshops and private parties. The space is equipped with a projector, screen and surround sound system and can fit about 30 people seated in rows or 50 - 60 people standing (including our mezzanine space) for a party setting. Prices vary depending on the event but can include a minimum spend on the bar or a hire fee.

Our Harper Road project space is a white gallery-type space located in the basement. This space can host exhibitions, photo or film shoots, castings and workshops. This space is available to hire for a fee with discounted rates available for our own members. This space is not suitable for private parties. Send us an enquiry to find out more.

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.

Our coworking space is open from 9 am-5:30 Monday to Friday for day passes.

All our members on monthly contracts have 24 hour access 7 days a week to their studio, office or desk space. Those who are on day passes can only book a space during our opening hours.

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.

Yes, we have a studio space waiting list which we send out monthly updating you on when different studios become available, to subscribe click here.

Yes, we have a number of different events which we host throughout the year both at our Spare street and Harper Road locations. These range from talks, markets, film nights, workshops as a few examples. To stay up to date with our upcoming events check out our events page on our website.

Alternatively, if you’d like to propose an event then you can submit a proposal here.

Some of our members will be required to take care of their own business rates, these include our Spare Street and the top two floors of Newington Causeway members. However, most of our members will be able to apply for business rates relief through the council. We have put together a useful blog post which steps you through the process.

Our SE17 spaces are situated on Spare Street and Larcom Street, both off Walworth Road. We are a short walk from the leafy Elephant Park which offers a great green space for those sunny days and some excellent restaurants and cafes for lunches. We are also a 12-minute walk from the Southwark Playhouse Borough which has always had a range of shows to see. Mercato Metropolitano is an Italian food market 10 minutes walk away it offers a range of food options and is a great spot to grab a drink after work. Finally, our very own Sidecar Coffee bar is located next door to our studio and coworking space on Spare Street where you can get the very best coffee in London (at least we think so!).