diff --git a/flanker/addresslib/drivers/redis_driver.py b/flanker/addresslib/drivers/redis_driver.py
index 71edfce2..773b1c3f 100644
--- a/flanker/addresslib/drivers/redis_driver.py
+++ b/flanker/addresslib/drivers/redis_driver.py
@@ -15,7 +15,8 @@ def __init__(self, host=None, port=None, prefix='mxr:', ttl=604800):
         host = host or os.environ.get('REDIS_HOST', 'localhost')
         port = port or os.environ.get('REDIS_PORT', 6379)
         db = os.environ.get('REDIS_DB', 0)
-        self.r = redis.StrictRedis(host=host, port=port, db=db)
+        decode_resp = os.environ.get('REDIS_DECODE_RESPONSES', False)
+        self.r = redis.StrictRedis(host=host, port=port, db=db, decode_responses=decode_resp)
 
     def __getitem__(self, key):
         try: