diff --git a/src/components/structures/UserSettings.js b/src/components/structures/UserSettings.js
index 1e0fcff445..72a287d584 100644
--- a/src/components/structures/UserSettings.js
+++ b/src/components/structures/UserSettings.js
@@ -101,6 +101,10 @@ const SETTINGS_LABELS = [
         id: 'MessageComposerInput.autoReplaceEmoji',
         label: 'Automatically replace plain text Emoji',
     },
+    {
+        id :'Pill.shouldHidePillAvatar',
+        label: 'Hide avatars in user and room mentions',
+    }
 /*
     {
         id: 'useFixedWidthFont',
diff --git a/src/components/views/elements/Pill.js b/src/components/views/elements/Pill.js
index 8d19eb5999..b5fa163608 100644
--- a/src/components/views/elements/Pill.js
+++ b/src/components/views/elements/Pill.js
@@ -47,6 +47,8 @@ const Pill = React.createClass({
         inMessage: PropTypes.bool,
         // The room in which this pill is being rendered
         room: PropTypes.instanceOf(Room),
+        // Whether to include an avatar in the pill
+        shouldShowPillAvatar: PropTypes.bool,
     },
 
     getInitialState() {
@@ -155,7 +157,9 @@ const Pill = React.createClass({
                     if (member) {
                         userId = member.userId;
                         linkText = member.rawDisplayName.replace(' (IRC)', ''); // FIXME when groups are done
-                        avatar = <MemberAvatar member={member} width={16} height={16}/>;
+                        if (this.props.shouldShowPillAvatar) {
+                            avatar = <MemberAvatar member={member} width={16} height={16}/>;
+                        }
                         pillClass = 'mx_UserPill';
                     }
             }
@@ -164,7 +168,9 @@ const Pill = React.createClass({
                 const room = this.state.room;
                 if (room) {
                     linkText = (room ? getDisplayAliasForRoom(room) : null) || resource;
-                    avatar = <RoomAvatar room={room} width={16} height={16}/>;
+                    if (this.props.shouldShowPillAvatar) {
+                        avatar = <RoomAvatar room={room} width={16} height={16}/>;
+                    }
                     pillClass = 'mx_RoomPill';
                 }
             }
diff --git a/src/components/views/messages/TextualBody.js b/src/components/views/messages/TextualBody.js
index 6d4d01a196..27dba76146 100644
--- a/src/components/views/messages/TextualBody.js
+++ b/src/components/views/messages/TextualBody.js
@@ -170,6 +170,7 @@ module.exports = React.createClass({
     },
 
     pillifyLinks: function(nodes) {
+        const shouldShowPillAvatar = !UserSettingsStore.getSyncedSetting("Pill.shouldHidePillAvatar", false);
         for (let i = 0; i < nodes.length; i++) {
             const node = nodes[i];
             if (node.tagName === "A" && node.getAttribute("href")) {
@@ -181,7 +182,12 @@ module.exports = React.createClass({
                     const pillContainer = document.createElement('span');
 
                     const room = MatrixClientPeg.get().getRoom(this.props.mxEvent.getRoomId());
-                    const pill = <Pill url={href} inMessage={true} room={room}/>;
+                    const pill = <Pill
+                        url={href}
+                        inMessage={true}
+                        room={room}
+                        shouldShowPillAvatar={shouldShowPillAvatar}
+                    />;
 
                     ReactDOM.render(pill, pillContainer);
                     node.parentNode.replaceChild(pillContainer, node);
diff --git a/src/components/views/rooms/MessageComposerInput.js b/src/components/views/rooms/MessageComposerInput.js
index d619de96d3..81704d5aba 100644
--- a/src/components/views/rooms/MessageComposerInput.js
+++ b/src/components/views/rooms/MessageComposerInput.js
@@ -188,13 +188,19 @@ export default class MessageComposerInput extends React.Component {
     createEditorState(richText: boolean, contentState: ?ContentState): EditorState {
         const decorators = richText ? RichText.getScopedRTDecorators(this.props) :
                 RichText.getScopedMDDecorators(this.props);
+        const shouldShowPillAvatar = !UserSettingsStore.getSyncedSetting("Pill.shouldHidePillAvatar", false);
         decorators.push({
             strategy: this.findLinkEntities.bind(this),
             component: (entityProps) => {
                 const Pill = sdk.getComponent('elements.Pill');
                 const {url} = entityProps.contentState.getEntity(entityProps.entityKey).getData();
                 if (Pill.isPillUrl(url)) {
-                    return <Pill url={url} room={this.props.room} offsetKey={entityProps.offsetKey}/>;
+                    return <Pill
+                        url={url}
+                        room={this.props.room}
+                        offsetKey={entityProps.offsetKey}
+                        shouldShowPillAvatar={shouldShowPillAvatar}
+                    />;
                 }
 
                 return (
diff --git a/src/i18n/strings/en_EN.json b/src/i18n/strings/en_EN.json
index 0402c242aa..0d5b7d9d96 100644
--- a/src/i18n/strings/en_EN.json
+++ b/src/i18n/strings/en_EN.json
@@ -966,5 +966,6 @@
     "Edit Group": "Edit Group",
     "Automatically replace plain text Emoji": "Automatically replace plain text Emoji",
     "Failed to upload image": "Failed to upload image",
-    "Failed to update group": "Failed to update group"
+    "Failed to update group": "Failed to update group",
+    "Hide avatars in user and room mentions": "Hide avatars in user and room mentions"
 }