diff --git a/changelog.d/5893.misc b/changelog.d/5893.misc
index 07ee4888dc..5ef171cb3e 100644
--- a/changelog.d/5893.misc
+++ b/changelog.d/5893.misc
@@ -1 +1 @@
-Drop some unused tables.
+Stop populating some unused tables.
diff --git a/changelog.d/6047.misc b/changelog.d/6047.misc
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..a4cdb8abb3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelog.d/6047.misc
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+Stop populating some unused 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
deleted file mode 100644
index 9f09922c67..0000000000
--- a/synapse/storage/schema/delta/56/drop_unused_event_tables.sql
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,20 +0,0 @@
-/* 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;