diff --git a/wagtail/contrib/postgres_search/backend.py b/wagtail/contrib/postgres_search/backend.py
index 7a95e304d8..900507b7c9 100644
--- a/wagtail/contrib/postgres_search/backend.py
+++ b/wagtail/contrib/postgres_search/backend.py
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ from django.db import DEFAULT_DB_ALIAS, NotSupportedError, connections, transact
 from django.db.models import F, Manager, TextField, Value
 from django.db.models.constants import LOOKUP_SEP
 from django.db.models.functions import Cast
-from django.utils.encoding import force_text, python_2_unicode_compatible
+from django.utils.encoding import force_text
 from django.utils.six import string_types
 
 from wagtail.wagtailsearch.backends.base import (
@@ -35,7 +35,6 @@ def get_pk_column(model):
     return model._meta.pk.get_attname_column()[1]
 
 
-@python_2_unicode_compatible
 class Index(object):
     def __init__(self, backend, model, db_alias=None):
         self.backend = backend
diff --git a/wagtail/contrib/postgres_search/models.py b/wagtail/contrib/postgres_search/models.py
index 85d7105789..25b0c7384e 100644
--- a/wagtail/contrib/postgres_search/models.py
+++ b/wagtail/contrib/postgres_search/models.py
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ from django.db.models import (
     CASCADE, AutoField, BigAutoField, BigIntegerField, F, ForeignKey, IntegerField, Model, QuerySet,
     TextField)
 from django.db.models.functions import Cast
-from django.utils.encoding import force_text, python_2_unicode_compatible
+from django.utils.encoding import force_text
 from django.utils.translation import ugettext_lazy as _
 
 from .utils import WEIGHTS_VALUES, get_descendants_content_types_pks
@@ -47,7 +47,6 @@ class IndexQuerySet(QuerySet):
         return self.annotate_typed_pk().values_list('typed_pk', flat=True)
 
 
-@python_2_unicode_compatible
 class IndexEntry(Model):
     content_type = ForeignKey(ContentType, on_delete=CASCADE)
     # We do not use an IntegerField since primary keys are not always integers.
diff --git a/wagtail/contrib/settings/context_processors.py b/wagtail/contrib/settings/context_processors.py
index 76e5ebaf0d..06af260346 100644
--- a/wagtail/contrib/settings/context_processors.py
+++ b/wagtail/contrib/settings/context_processors.py
@@ -1,11 +1,8 @@
 from __future__ import absolute_import, unicode_literals
 
-from django.utils.encoding import python_2_unicode_compatible
-
 from .registry import registry
 
 
-@python_2_unicode_compatible
 class SettingsProxy(dict):
     """
     Get a SettingModuleProxy for an app using proxy['app_label']
@@ -21,7 +18,6 @@ class SettingsProxy(dict):
         return 'SettingsProxy'
 
 
-@python_2_unicode_compatible
 class SettingModuleProxy(dict):
     """
     Get a setting instance using proxy['modelname']
diff --git a/wagtail/tests/modeladmintest/models.py b/wagtail/tests/modeladmintest/models.py
index 3ce685adce..b8a48308a6 100644
--- a/wagtail/tests/modeladmintest/models.py
+++ b/wagtail/tests/modeladmintest/models.py
@@ -1,13 +1,11 @@
 from __future__ import absolute_import, unicode_literals
 
 from django.db import models
-from django.utils.encoding import python_2_unicode_compatible
 
 from wagtail.wagtailcore.models import Page
 from wagtail.wagtailsearch import index
 
 
-@python_2_unicode_compatible
 class Author(models.Model):
     name = models.CharField(max_length=255)
     date_of_birth = models.DateField()
@@ -23,7 +21,6 @@ class Author(models.Model):
         return ''
 
 
-@python_2_unicode_compatible
 class Book(models.Model, index.Indexed):
     author = models.ForeignKey(Author, on_delete=models.PROTECT)
     title = models.CharField(max_length=255)
@@ -33,7 +30,6 @@ class Book(models.Model, index.Indexed):
         return self.title
 
 
-@python_2_unicode_compatible
 class Token(models.Model):
     key = models.CharField(max_length=40, primary_key=True)
 
@@ -41,7 +37,6 @@ class Token(models.Model):
         return self.key
 
 
-@python_2_unicode_compatible
 class Publisher(models.Model):
     name = models.CharField(max_length=50)
     headquartered_in = models.CharField(max_length=50, null=True, blank=True)
diff --git a/wagtail/tests/snippets/models.py b/wagtail/tests/snippets/models.py
index a9541bea08..624e19140c 100644
--- a/wagtail/tests/snippets/models.py
+++ b/wagtail/tests/snippets/models.py
@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
 from __future__ import absolute_import, unicode_literals
 
 from django.db import models
-from django.utils.encoding import python_2_unicode_compatible
 from modelcluster.fields import ParentalKey
 from modelcluster.models import ClusterableModel
 
@@ -19,7 +18,6 @@ from .forms import FancySnippetForm
 # to ensure specific [in]correct register ordering
 
 # AlphaSnippet is registered during TestSnippetOrdering
-@python_2_unicode_compatible
 class AlphaSnippet(models.Model):
     text = models.CharField(max_length=255)
 
@@ -28,7 +26,6 @@ class AlphaSnippet(models.Model):
 
 
 # ZuluSnippet is registered during TestSnippetOrdering
-@python_2_unicode_compatible
 class ZuluSnippet(models.Model):
     text = models.CharField(max_length=255)
 
diff --git a/wagtail/tests/testapp/models.py b/wagtail/tests/testapp/models.py
index 5a7ef5b32a..1000503b82 100644
--- a/wagtail/tests/testapp/models.py
+++ b/wagtail/tests/testapp/models.py
@@ -12,7 +12,6 @@ from django.core.paginator import EmptyPage, PageNotAnInteger, Paginator
 from django.core.serializers.json import DjangoJSONEncoder
 from django.db import models
 from django.shortcuts import render
-from django.utils.encoding import python_2_unicode_compatible
 from django.utils.six import text_type
 from modelcluster.contrib.taggit import ClusterTaggableManager
 from modelcluster.fields import ParentalKey, ParentalManyToManyField
@@ -199,7 +198,6 @@ class EventPageSpeaker(Orderable, LinkFields):
     ]
 
 
-@python_2_unicode_compatible
 class EventCategory(models.Model):
     name = models.CharField("Name", max_length=255)
 
@@ -519,7 +517,6 @@ class AdvertTag(TaggedItemBase):
     content_object = ParentalKey('Advert', related_name='tagged_items', on_delete=models.CASCADE)
 
 
-@python_2_unicode_compatible
 class Advert(ClusterableModel):
     url = models.URLField(null=True, blank=True)
     text = models.CharField(max_length=255)
@@ -539,7 +536,6 @@ class Advert(ClusterableModel):
 register_snippet(Advert)
 
 
-@python_2_unicode_compatible
 class AdvertWithTabbedInterface(models.Model):
     url = models.URLField(null=True, blank=True)
     text = models.CharField(max_length=255)
diff --git a/wagtail/wagtailadmin/widgets.py b/wagtail/wagtailadmin/widgets.py
index d3069e2883..90e1ed2153 100644
--- a/wagtail/wagtailadmin/widgets.py
+++ b/wagtail/wagtailadmin/widgets.py
@@ -9,7 +9,6 @@ from django.core.urlresolvers import reverse
 from django.forms import widgets
 from django.forms.utils import flatatt
 from django.template.loader import render_to_string
-from django.utils.encoding import python_2_unicode_compatible
 from django.utils.formats import get_format
 from django.utils.functional import cached_property
 from django.utils.html import format_html
@@ -217,7 +216,6 @@ class AdminPageChooser(AdminChooser):
         )
 
 
-@python_2_unicode_compatible
 @total_ordering
 class Button(object):
     show = True
diff --git a/wagtail/wagtailcore/blocks/base.py b/wagtail/wagtailcore/blocks/base.py
index 74ff8b3254..7cca2ce5a6 100644
--- a/wagtail/wagtailcore/blocks/base.py
+++ b/wagtail/wagtailcore/blocks/base.py
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ from django.core import checks
 from django.core.exceptions import ImproperlyConfigured
 from django.template.loader import render_to_string
 from django.utils import six
-from django.utils.encoding import force_text, python_2_unicode_compatible
+from django.utils.encoding import force_text
 from django.utils.safestring import mark_safe
 from django.utils.text import capfirst
 
@@ -411,7 +411,6 @@ class Block(six.with_metaclass(BaseBlock, object)):
     __hash__ = None
 
 
-@python_2_unicode_compatible
 class BoundBlock(object):
     def __init__(self, block, value, prefix=None, errors=None):
         self.block = block
diff --git a/wagtail/wagtailcore/blocks/stream_block.py b/wagtail/wagtailcore/blocks/stream_block.py
index 296fe9afd3..00a0534e25 100644
--- a/wagtail/wagtailcore/blocks/stream_block.py
+++ b/wagtail/wagtailcore/blocks/stream_block.py
@@ -10,7 +10,6 @@ from django.forms.utils import ErrorList
 from django.template.loader import render_to_string
 # Must be imported from Django so we get the new implementation of with_metaclass
 from django.utils import six
-from django.utils.encoding import python_2_unicode_compatible
 from django.utils.html import format_html_join
 from django.utils.safestring import mark_safe
 from django.utils.translation import ugettext as _
@@ -326,7 +325,6 @@ class StreamBlock(six.with_metaclass(DeclarativeSubBlocksMetaclass, BaseStreamBl
     pass
 
 
-@python_2_unicode_compatible  # provide equivalent __unicode__ and __str__ methods on Py2
 class StreamValue(collections.Sequence):
     """
     Custom type used to represent the value of a StreamBlock; behaves as a sequence of BoundBlocks
diff --git a/wagtail/wagtailcore/models.py b/wagtail/wagtailcore/models.py
index 22d2704d9a..4a49ebf821 100644
--- a/wagtail/wagtailcore/models.py
+++ b/wagtail/wagtailcore/models.py
@@ -21,7 +21,6 @@ from django.http import Http404
 from django.template.response import TemplateResponse
 # Must be imported from Django so we get the new implementation of with_metaclass
 from django.utils import six, timezone
-from django.utils.encoding import python_2_unicode_compatible
 from django.utils.functional import cached_property
 from django.utils.six import StringIO
 from django.utils.six.moves.urllib.parse import urlparse
@@ -48,7 +47,6 @@ class SiteManager(models.Manager):
         return self.get(hostname=hostname, port=port)
 
 
-@python_2_unicode_compatible
 class Site(models.Model):
     hostname = models.CharField(verbose_name=_('hostname'), max_length=255, db_index=True)
     port = models.IntegerField(
@@ -243,7 +241,6 @@ class AbstractPage(MP_Node):
         abstract = True
 
 
-@python_2_unicode_compatible
 class Page(six.with_metaclass(PageBase, AbstractPage, index.Indexed, ClusterableModel)):
     title = models.CharField(
         verbose_name=_('title'),
@@ -1407,7 +1404,6 @@ class SubmittedRevisionsManager(models.Manager):
         return super(SubmittedRevisionsManager, self).get_queryset().filter(submitted_for_moderation=True)
 
 
-@python_2_unicode_compatible
 class PageRevision(models.Model):
     page = models.ForeignKey('Page', verbose_name=_('page'), related_name='revisions', on_delete=models.CASCADE)
     submitted_for_moderation = models.BooleanField(
@@ -1560,7 +1556,6 @@ PAGE_PERMISSION_TYPE_CHOICES = [
 ]
 
 
-@python_2_unicode_compatible
 class GroupPagePermission(models.Model):
     group = models.ForeignKey(Group, verbose_name=_('group'), related_name='page_permissions', on_delete=models.CASCADE)
     page = models.ForeignKey('Page', verbose_name=_('page'), related_name='group_permissions', on_delete=models.CASCADE)
@@ -1945,7 +1940,6 @@ class CollectionViewRestriction(BaseViewRestriction):
         verbose_name_plural = _('collection view restrictions')
 
 
-@python_2_unicode_compatible
 class Collection(MP_Node):
     """
     A location in which resources such as images and documents can be grouped
@@ -2005,7 +1999,6 @@ class CollectionMember(models.Model):
         abstract = True
 
 
-@python_2_unicode_compatible
 class GroupCollectionPermission(models.Model):
     """
     A rule indicating that a group has permission for some action (e.g. "create document")
diff --git a/wagtail/wagtailcore/rich_text.py b/wagtail/wagtailcore/rich_text.py
index d606e205fd..333c37dc51 100644
--- a/wagtail/wagtailcore/rich_text.py
+++ b/wagtail/wagtailcore/rich_text.py
@@ -2,7 +2,6 @@ from __future__ import absolute_import, unicode_literals
 
 import re  # parsing HTML with regexes LIKE A BOSS.
 
-from django.utils.encoding import python_2_unicode_compatible
 from django.utils.html import escape
 from django.utils.safestring import mark_safe
 
@@ -182,7 +181,6 @@ def expand_db_html(html, for_editor=False):
     return html
 
 
-@python_2_unicode_compatible
 class RichText(object):
     """
     A custom object used to represent a renderable rich text value.
diff --git a/wagtail/wagtaildocs/models.py b/wagtail/wagtaildocs/models.py
index 8db6cec684..dc8ddfe273 100644
--- a/wagtail/wagtaildocs/models.py
+++ b/wagtail/wagtaildocs/models.py
@@ -7,7 +7,6 @@ from django.core.exceptions import ImproperlyConfigured
 from django.core.urlresolvers import reverse
 from django.db import models
 from django.dispatch import Signal
-from django.utils.encoding import python_2_unicode_compatible
 from django.utils.translation import ugettext_lazy as _
 from taggit.managers import TaggableManager
 
@@ -21,7 +20,6 @@ class DocumentQuerySet(SearchableQuerySetMixin, models.QuerySet):
     pass
 
 
-@python_2_unicode_compatible
 class AbstractDocument(CollectionMember, index.Indexed, models.Model):
     title = models.CharField(max_length=255, verbose_name=_('title'))
     file = models.FileField(upload_to='documents', verbose_name=_('file'))
diff --git a/wagtail/wagtailembeds/blocks.py b/wagtail/wagtailembeds/blocks.py
index 81bbe7e3fc..c50df81e72 100644
--- a/wagtail/wagtailembeds/blocks.py
+++ b/wagtail/wagtailembeds/blocks.py
@@ -1,12 +1,9 @@
 from __future__ import absolute_import, unicode_literals
 
-from django.utils.encoding import python_2_unicode_compatible
-
 from wagtail.wagtailcore import blocks
 from wagtail.wagtailembeds.format import embed_to_frontend_html
 
 
-@python_2_unicode_compatible
 class EmbedValue(object):
     """
     Native value of an EmbedBlock. Should, at minimum, have a 'url' property
diff --git a/wagtail/wagtailembeds/models.py b/wagtail/wagtailembeds/models.py
index 08c6065310..4545d37a95 100644
--- a/wagtail/wagtailembeds/models.py
+++ b/wagtail/wagtailembeds/models.py
@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
 from __future__ import absolute_import, division, unicode_literals
 
 from django.db import models
-from django.utils.encoding import python_2_unicode_compatible
 from django.utils.translation import ugettext_lazy as _
 
 EMBED_TYPES = (
@@ -12,7 +11,6 @@ EMBED_TYPES = (
 )
 
 
-@python_2_unicode_compatible
 class Embed(models.Model):
     """
     When embed code is fetched from a provider (eg, youtube) we cache that code
diff --git a/wagtail/wagtailforms/models.py b/wagtail/wagtailforms/models.py
index 9165b131eb..14bfb0ceee 100644
--- a/wagtail/wagtailforms/models.py
+++ b/wagtail/wagtailforms/models.py
@@ -7,7 +7,6 @@ from django.contrib.contenttypes.models import ContentType
 from django.core.serializers.json import DjangoJSONEncoder
 from django.db import models
 from django.shortcuts import render
-from django.utils.encoding import python_2_unicode_compatible
 from django.utils.six import text_type
 from django.utils.text import slugify
 from django.utils.translation import ugettext_lazy as _
@@ -36,7 +35,6 @@ FORM_FIELD_CHOICES = (
 )
 
 
-@python_2_unicode_compatible
 class AbstractFormSubmission(models.Model):
     """
     Data for a form submission.
diff --git a/wagtail/wagtailimages/models.py b/wagtail/wagtailimages/models.py
index ed5d5002ba..256cd60f73 100644
--- a/wagtail/wagtailimages/models.py
+++ b/wagtail/wagtailimages/models.py
@@ -11,7 +11,6 @@ from django.core.files import File
 from django.core.urlresolvers import reverse
 from django.db import models
 from django.forms.utils import flatatt
-from django.utils.encoding import python_2_unicode_compatible
 from django.utils.functional import cached_property
 from django.utils.safestring import mark_safe
 from django.utils.six import BytesIO, string_types, text_type
@@ -62,7 +61,6 @@ def get_rendition_upload_to(instance, filename):
     return instance.get_upload_to(filename)
 
 
-@python_2_unicode_compatible
 class AbstractImage(CollectionMember, index.Indexed, models.Model):
     title = models.CharField(max_length=255, verbose_name=_('title'))
     file = models.ImageField(
diff --git a/wagtail/wagtailsearch/models.py b/wagtail/wagtailsearch/models.py
index b87f27ab6c..38146cdc84 100644
--- a/wagtail/wagtailsearch/models.py
+++ b/wagtail/wagtailsearch/models.py
@@ -5,13 +5,11 @@ import datetime
 from django.conf import settings
 from django.db import models
 from django.utils import timezone
-from django.utils.encoding import python_2_unicode_compatible
 from django.utils.translation import ugettext_lazy as _
 
 from wagtail.wagtailsearch.utils import MAX_QUERY_STRING_LENGTH, normalise_query_string
 
 
-@python_2_unicode_compatible
 class Query(models.Model):
     query_string = models.CharField(max_length=MAX_QUERY_STRING_LENGTH, unique=True)
 
diff --git a/wagtail/wagtailusers/models.py b/wagtail/wagtailusers/models.py
index 00a034d50d..f3ebf6f427 100644
--- a/wagtail/wagtailusers/models.py
+++ b/wagtail/wagtailusers/models.py
@@ -2,11 +2,9 @@ from __future__ import absolute_import, unicode_literals
 
 from django.conf import settings
 from django.db import models
-from django.utils.encoding import python_2_unicode_compatible
 from django.utils.translation import ugettext_lazy as _
 
 
-@python_2_unicode_compatible
 class UserProfile(models.Model):
     user = models.OneToOneField(
         settings.AUTH_USER_MODEL, on_delete=models.CASCADE, related_name='wagtail_userprofile'