Letters – September 2026

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Elephants

Firstly, may I congratulate the LD team for an excellent August/September issue. A great mix of interesting features and the usual informative news content.  LD’s award at the last CAMRA AGM was well deserved and long overdue, in my opinion.

I particularly liked the articles on John Young and Chiswick Bitter, both sorely missed by your correspondent.  I always look forward to Christine Cryne’s articles on London’s microbreweries but was, as a proud South Londoner, a little surprised to learn that Peter Jackson of Southwark Brewery thinks that the elephant has no connection with the borough in question.

He may like to take a short trip to the Elephant & Castle where the elephant sign from the pub that gave its name to the district now stands in the new residential development east of the railway viaduct.  I believe it was formerly outside the now demolished shopping centre, next to the also now vanished Newington Butts pub.  Happily, the current incarnation of the Elephant & Castle (with a smaller golden elephant sign) appears to be alive and well.

Robert Preston