The Montpelier — Restaurant in London

🚇 Peckham Rye 🍺 £5.50 Amstel

The Montpelier is located just off Bellenden Road in Peckham, Southeast London. The nearest station is Peckham Rye.

The pub was originally a Watney’s house known as The Montpelier Tavern, built in 1861. The pub was located at Montpelier Road, before shifting to Choumert Road and rebuilt in the late 19th century.

This is a very long, traditionally decorated, one-bar, two-room pub. At the front is the main bar area, with the servery stretching almost the entire length of the bar. Opposite the servery is a row of booths, which appeared to be the most popular part of the pub. There are seating areas on either side of the servery, along with a DJ booth to the left.

At the back, just off the main bar, is a second room filled with natural light from the atrium above. The decor consists of a boarded floor, deep-coloured walls, superb mirrors, traditional furniture with elongated banquettes, and tasselled lampshades above the booths.

At the front and to the side of the pub are plenty of benches for the warmer months.

The beer selection is top-notch, combining well-known brands, local London brews, and three cask ales. I kept it simple with an Amstel; my pint hit the spot, and the price point was below average. The food menu focuses on coastal Mediterranean fare, featuring a mix of seafood, BBQ meats, comfort food and oysters.

I arrived at 3pm on an overcast August Saturday. The main bar was lively, the back room more relaxed, and the front terrace packed. The atmosphere was upbeat with a soulful soundtrack. The punters were mostly younger crowd—some on the beers, others enjoying pub grub. Service was spot on, with friendly, courteous staff.

There’s a pub quiz every Wednesday, DJs spinning on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights, and live jazz on Sundays.

I thoroughly enjoyed visiting this pub, and it was great to see the younger generation out in force on a Saturday afternoon. There’s a really good choice of beers, popular pub grub, and plenty to keep you entertained. The Montpelier gets a big thumbs up from me.

Follow @themontpelier for updates.

📅 30th August 2025

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Do not believe the good rating this pub has for roasts, it has gone down hill dramatically -

Very sad to say I had a below par experience of the food at the Montpellier today - a pub I have frequented and loved for years.

The staff are very friendly and helpful but sadly the food massively lets them down, I used to say that the food here was 5 stars and often come with friends but today is most certainly my last visit for food.

My partner and I arrived early (12:45) for a Sunday roast so expected to get the freshest and lovely big roast that we have previously had from this pub and what you would expect paying £16 for a roast, we opted for the vegan roast and as we were both hungry asked if we could have an extra portion of veg, I also asked if I could have my gravy on the side. They first refused to give an extra potion of veg but eventually said okay.

When the food arrived, after quite a long wait, we were both shocked at the portion size as well as the half ‘roasted’ potatoes that had barely seen the over and the extremely bland flavours throughout the dish. Mine also arrived swimming in watery gravy. I sent it back and the new gravyless plate came with even less cooked veg and an even smaller portion size.

The extra side of veg was abysmally small, cost £4, and consisted of 2 slithers of parsnip, 2 slithers of beetroot and a little bit of greens in a tiny cup - It couldn’t cost more than 20p in terms of cost of veg by weight if that.

We did inform the lovely wait staff that we were shocked and disappointed with the food and they were very apologetic but didn’t offer a discount on our meal and we left unsatisfied and our pocket £43 lighter, felt like a complete rip off.

So much for a Sunday treat. I’m very aware of the impact of the cost of greed crisis on businesses but it doesn’t cost anything to finish cooking your veg before It goes out and providing good value for money (ie the size of your roast) is a sure fire way to ensure repeat business, being stingy on cheap veg won’t get you anywhere.

It’s feels like this place is surviving on its good reputation and the lack of competition from...

This is an odd one, I've come here for years to drink, fantastic place if you want a pint, however, came here a couple of weeks ago for a roast with my partner, we paid £80 for 2 pints, 2 roast dinners and a side, I had the beef and my partner had this mushroom thing. I could have cooked a roast better if I had no eyes, only one arm and the hand was tied behind my back. It was a disgrace. The roasties were the quality level of a frozen bag of aunt Bessie's.... Which was doubly painful as I ordered an extra side of them (which turned up when we had finished the meal (I finished mine, not sure why, my partner did not, she got a KFC on the way home because she wanted to remember what gravy tasted like). I had to ask 3 times for the bill... It wasn't busy, two of the staff were stood right by us singing to each other which I imagine was fun for them... But shit for us. Anyway, might have been an off day, but I'm not going back. If you are looking for a decent roast in the area, go to Kix Bar on Lordship Lane (Mexican Asian fusion.... I know.... It sounds mental)... They know what they are doing and put this...