diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 2f3421f..e9d586d 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,5 +1,10 @@
 # Changelog
 
+## 2024-11-18
+### Added
+- When a custom `GIT_BRIDGE_IMAGE` is set, `bin/upgrade` no longer tries to pull the new version, and prompts
+  the user to update and tag the custom image separately.
+
 ## 2024-10-29
 ### Added
 - Pull new images from `bin/upgrade` ahead of stopping containers
diff --git a/bin/upgrade b/bin/upgrade
index 84de2fa..c5d361c 100755
--- a/bin/upgrade
+++ b/bin/upgrade
@@ -160,6 +160,16 @@ function handle_image_upgrade() {
   set_server_pro_image_name "$SEED_IMAGE_VERSION"
   docker pull "$IMAGE"
   if [[ $GIT_BRIDGE_ENABLED == "true" ]]; then
+    if [[ -n ${GIT_BRIDGE_IMAGE:-} ]]; then
+      echo "-------------------  WARNING  ----------------------"
+      echo "  You're using the custom git bridge image $GIT_BRIDGE_IMAGE"
+      echo "  Before continuing you need to tag the updated image separately, making sure that:"
+      echo "     1. The Docker image is tagged with the new version: $SEED_IMAGE_VERSION"
+      echo "     2. The config/overleaf.rc entry GIT_BRIDGE_IMAGE only contains the image name, and not a tag/version."
+      echo "  You wont be able to continue with this upgrade until you've tagged your custom image with $SEED_IMAGE_VERSION"
+      echo "-------------------  WARNING  ----------------------"
+      prompt "Has the custom image been tagged?"
+    fi
     set_git_bridge_image_name "$SEED_IMAGE_VERSION"
     docker pull "$GIT_BRIDGE_IMAGE"
   fi
diff --git a/lib/shared-functions.sh b/lib/shared-functions.sh
index ebd7164..a35d17c 100644
--- a/lib/shared-functions.sh
+++ b/lib/shared-functions.sh
@@ -96,7 +96,15 @@ function set_git_bridge_image_name() {
   else
     image_name="quay.io/sharelatex/git-bridge"
   fi
-  export GIT_BRIDGE_IMAGE="$image_name:$version"
+
+  # since we're reusing the GIT_BRIDGE_IMAGE environment variable, we check here if the version
+  # has already been added to it, for scenarios where this function is called more than once
+  if [[ "$image_name" == *"$version" ]]; then
+    export GIT_BRIDGE_IMAGE="$image_name"
+  else
+    export GIT_BRIDGE_IMAGE="$image_name:$version"
+  fi
+
 }
 
 function check_retracted_version() {