We run tutored beer tastings through the Bermondsey railway arches, and have done since 2014, which means we spend a lot of Saturdays walking the same half-mile of Druid Street and Bermondsey Street our guests do. What we get asked almost as often as "which taproom is best?" is "where's good for a proper Sunday roast round here?" So this is that guide: a local, honest rundown of where to eat well around London Bridge and Bermondsey on a Sunday, plus the one thing most visitors get wrong about pairing a roast with a Beer Mile day out. For the fuller area picture, our guide to things to do near London Bridge and our Bermondsey Beer Mile guide cover the rest of the day either side of lunch.
Why London Bridge and Bermondsey work so well for a Sunday roast
This corner of south-east London has an unusual density of good pubs for its size: proper Victorian boozers on Bermondsey Street, a run of riverside pubs towards Shad Thames and Rotherhithe with genuine Thames views, and a couple of Borough Market institutions that have been pulling pints since long before the market became a tourist stop. Add in that most of it is walkable in fifteen minutes from London Bridge station, and a Sunday roast crawl here doesn't need much planning beyond picking a starting point and booking a table.
Bermondsey Street: the strongest run of gastropubs
Bermondsey Street itself is where we'd send a first-timer. It's lined with independent gastropubs that take their Sunday roast seriously - proper Yorkshire puddings, a genuine choice of meats (and usually a decent vegetarian nut roast or similar), and roast potatoes that have clearly seen enough goose fat to justify the walk afterwards. The street runs parallel to our own tasting route through the arches, so it's easy to treat it as the "eating half" of a Bermondsey day, with the taprooms as the "drinking half" on the days both are open. As with any popular Sunday lunch spot, menus, prices and exactly which pubs are running a roast that particular week can change, so it's always worth a quick check of the pub's own site or social media before you set off, particularly around a bank holiday.
Riverside pubs: a Sunday roast with a view
Walk east from Tower Bridge along the river and you hit a stretch of genuinely historic riverside pubs around Shad Thames and into Rotherhithe - low beams, Thames views, and centuries of history behind the bar in some cases. A riverside roast here is less about convenience and more about the setting: it's a proper destination lunch rather than a quick stop, and worth building a whole afternoon around rather than squeezing in before something else. Our guide to London's best riverside pubs covers this stretch and further afield in more detail, including which pubs lean more "tourist-friendly" versus "local's local" - useful context before you book.
Near Borough Market: the classic pub roast
If your Sunday starts with a wander around Borough Market, bear in mind the market's own Sunday trading is limited - its main days are Wednesday through Saturday, with Sunday typically reduced or closed, so don't plan your whole day around browsing stalls the way you might on a Saturday. That said, several of the classic pubs that ring the market keep going strong on a Sunday regardless of what the stalls are doing, serving the kind of unfussy, generous roast that's been feeding market traders for generations. Our full Borough Market guide covers current opening times and what's worth seeing on the days it is open, so you can decide whether a market visit fits your Sunday plan or whether you're better off heading straight for lunch.
What actually makes a good Sunday roast
A few things separate a great roast from a merely fine one, wherever you end up eating: potatoes roasted in a proper fat (goose or beef dripping, not just oil) with a genuinely crisp shell; a Yorkshire pudding that's actually risen rather than a flat disc; a choice of at least two meats plus a proper vegetarian option, not an afterthought; and gravy that's been made from the roasting tray rather than poured from a jug that's clearly been sat under a heat lamp. None of this is unique to our corner of London, but it's a useful checklist to have in mind when you're comparing two pubs you've never tried before.
Booking, timing and the things people get wrong
- Book ahead, especially for a group. Sunday lunch is the single busiest sitting of the week for most of these pubs, and the well-known spots on Bermondsey Street fill their good tables and popular cuts early.
- Don't assume the taprooms are open. Saturday is the Bermondsey Beer Mile's busiest trading day, and a number of the railway-arch taprooms keep reduced hours or close entirely on a Sunday. If you're hoping to combine a roast with a taproom crawl, check individual opening hours before you build the day around it rather than turning up and finding arches shuttered.
- Aim for a later sitting if you also want to walk. A 1pm or 2pm table leaves you time for a proper walk along Bermondsey Street or the riverside afterwards without rushing lunch.
- Check the market days separately from the pub days. Borough Market's Sunday hours don't match a typical Sunday pub roast schedule, so treat them as two separate plans rather than assuming one flows straight into the other.
Make it part of a bigger Bermondsey day
If you're building a full day around this corner of London rather than just a single meal, our local's guide to things to do in Bermondsey covers Maltby Street Market and Bermondsey Street's galleries for the hours either side of lunch, and our guide to eating on the Beer Mile itself is the companion piece if you're planning your food around a tasting tour rather than a formal sit-down roast. Between the two, you should be able to build a Saturday or Sunday in Bermondsey that suits whichever pace your group prefers.
Pairing food and beer properly
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- Borough Market food tour with tastings — a good option if you'd rather have a guide walk you through the market's best stalls on a day it's open, before you settle in for a roast.
If it's the beer side of the pairing you're more interested in, our own Cheese, Meat & Beer Tour (£65pp, Saturdays 12-2:30pm) does a guided version of exactly this idea - British cheese and charcuterie matched to craft beer across three railway arches - and works well as a Saturday alternative to a Sunday roast if your group would rather drink their way through the pairing than eat a full plated lunch.
Whichever you choose, this stretch of London rewards slowing down for an afternoon rather than rushing between two things. Book your table, check your taproom hours, and give yourself the time to actually enjoy both halves of the day.