Dozens sign petition for Waitrose or M&S at Elephant & Castle

The space – at the One The Elephant scheme next to the Metropolitan Tabernacle – is currently occupied by Lendlease's sales and marketing suite for the Elephant Park development.

With the sales suite moving to a new location on Walworth Road, some local residents have started a petition on Change.org urging Lendlease to attract an upmarket food retailer such as Waitrose or M&S to occupy the space.

"I live in the building and having especially a Waitrose downstairs would be extremely convenient," wrote Dennis Bielecki on the petition.

Another signatory, Miles Rohm, wrote: "I support this petition for Marks & Spencer or Waitrose to occupy the ground floor because local residents are deserving of a much broader range of choice. This will also promote increased competition for the many Tesco and Sainsbury's stores which proliferate the immediate area.

"Marks & Spencer and Waitrose are brands synonymous with high quality and compete on quality not on price.

"The beneficiaries of this are not only local shoppers but also local people having access to better paid work than many of the existing budget supermarkets."

SE1 currently has just one Little Waitrose store, at the South Bank Tower development in Stamford Street.