 "Lord Upminster" received negative reviews from contemporary music critics.In a contemporary review music critic Robert Christgau gave the album a "B-" and panned that ""Spasticus Autisticus" is every bit as startling as Dury must have hoped after Laughter got lost in the hustle" but added that "I suppose the idea is to let the riddims of Steve Stanley, Chaz Jankel, and Sly & Robbie turn jingles into rallying cries"

In a retrospective review, Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic gave the album two and a half out of five stars and wrote that ""Lord Upminster" turned out to be a set of uninspired funk that lacks the joyful energy of his three previous records.