diff --git a/changelog.d/6115.misc b/changelog.d/6115.misc
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..b19e395a99ec
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelog.d/6115.misc
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Drop some unused database tables.
diff --git a/synapse/storage/schema/delta/56/drop_unused_event_tables.sql b/synapse/storage/schema/delta/56/drop_unused_event_tables.sql
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..9f09922c677d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/synapse/storage/schema/delta/56/drop_unused_event_tables.sql
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+/* Copyright 2019 The Matrix.org Foundation C.I.C.
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+-- these tables are never used.
+DROP TABLE IF EXISTS room_names;
+DROP TABLE IF EXISTS topics;
+DROP TABLE IF EXISTS history_visibility;
+DROP TABLE IF EXISTS guest_access;