Montpelier is a small, colourful inner-city neighbourhood about a mile north of Bristol city centre, tucked between Stokes Croft, Cotham and St Werburgh's. It's known for Georgian and Victorian terraces painted in bright colours, a dense scatter of street art including at least one real Banksy, and Picton Street, its compact commercial spine of independent cafes, delis and restaurants. It has its own train station on the Severn Beach Line, which makes it one of the easier Bristol neighbourhoods to reach without a car.
Montpelier at a glance
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Where is it? | About 1 mile north of the city centre, postcode area BS6, bordering Stokes Croft, St Paul's, St Werburgh's, St Andrew's and Cotham |
| What's the main street? | Picton Street, a short strip of independent shops, cafes and restaurants |
| How do you get there? | Montpelier railway station on the Severn Beach Line, plus regular buses along Cheltenham Road and Gloucester Road |
| What's it known for? | Colourful Georgian and Victorian terraces, street art, and a bohemian, independent feel |
| Is there green space? | Montpelier Park and Albany Green, both small neighbourhood parks |
What the neighbourhood actually looks like
Montpelier sits on a hillside that rises from south to north, so its narrow streets follow the slope rather than a grid, with views back over the city centre as you climb. The housing is overwhelmingly Georgian and Victorian terraces, many painted in the same vivid colours you'll see on hillside streets like Cliftonwood and Totterdown elsewhere in Bristol, mixed with some modern infill flats and a scattering of larger villas. The whole area is a designated conservation area, which is part of why the Victorian shopfronts and townscape along Cheltenham Road and Picton Street have stayed largely intact.
Picton Street: the neighbourhood's real centre
Picton Street is where Montpelier actually happens. It runs just off Stokes Croft and is lined with small independent businesses rather than chains: an Italian deli, a farm shop, a handful of cafes and restaurants, and shops selling everything from fresh produce to furniture. The Bristolian café at the top of the street is a well-known spot for brunch and people-watching, Thali Cafe serves light, fresh Indian food a step away from a standard curry house, and Bianchi's, in the former home of the long-running Bell's Diner, does more polished Italian cooking if you want somewhere for a proper sit-down meal. It's a genuinely walkable street, short enough to cover in fifteen minutes but worth taking slower.
Street art and things to look out for
Montpelier is one of Bristol's denser pockets of street art, which is a big part of why it keeps turning up on lists of the city's coolest neighbourhoods. The Silent Hobo mural at Montpelier train station is often the first piece visitors notice, and the streets around Picton Street and Cheltenham Road carry a steady scatter of other murals and painted shopfronts. There's a genuine Banksy piece in the area too, though plenty of other works get mistaken for his by visitors who don't realise Bristol's street art scene is much bigger than one artist. If you want a fuller picture of the city's murals, our Bristol street art guide and our Stokes Croft guide cover the immediately neighbouring area, since the two run into each other without a hard line between them.
Getting there and getting around
Montpelier has its own station on the Severn Beach Line, with direct trains to Clifton Down, Lawrence Hill and on to Temple Meads, which makes it an easy add-on if you're already exploring Bristol by rail. It also sits close enough to Stokes Croft and Gloucester Road to walk to either in a few minutes, and the number of buses running along Cheltenham Road and Gloucester Road means you're rarely more than a short walk from a stop into the centre. If you're coming by bike, the area connects easily to the city's wider cycle routes; see our bike hire guide if you don't have your own.
Green space
Montpelier isn't big on open space, but Montpelier Park and Albany Green both give you a small patch of grass within the neighbourhood itself, and the larger St Andrew's Park and Royal Fort Gardens are a short walk away if you want more room.
Is Montpelier worth visiting if you're not local?
Yes, especially if you're already planning to spend time around Stokes Croft or Gloucester Road, since Montpelier adds naturally onto either without much of a detour. It's less geared towards tourists than Clifton or the Harbourside, which is exactly the appeal: you're seeing a genuinely residential, independent part of Bristol rather than a polished visitor route. An hour or two is enough to walk Picton Street, take in the street art, and get a coffee or lunch, though if you want a longer afternoon, pairing it with a walk down into Stokes Croft and across to Gloucester Road, covered in our Gloucester Road guide, makes for a fuller day.
If you're thinking about living there
Montpelier regularly appears in surveys of the UK's coolest or most desirable neighbourhoods, and estate agents covering the area consistently describe it as highly sought after, largely because of its period housing stock and closeness to the city centre. It's worth comparing against the city's other inner neighbourhoods in our moving to Bristol neighbourhoods guide before deciding, since areas like Stokes Croft, St Werburgh's and Cotham sit just as close to the centre with a different feel and price point.