Once hailed as south London's answer to Bath, the Elephant and Castle's reputation has for many years been more ugly duckling than admired swan. Named after a pub, and famous for music halls, Europe's biggest cinema, and a gang that modelled itself on Chicago's violent criminals, it was less well-known for being home to an important group of artists that included Leon Kossoff and Frank Auerbach.  The Elephant reinvented itself more recently as a music and night club venue; hip in parts, but not where most people wanted to live; a grimy and gritty place, somewhere only its locals could love. Then  along came regeneration, and suddenly unfamiliar words like investment, opportunity, desirable started to be used about the neighbourhood.