diff --git a/.bumpversion.cfg b/.bumpversion.cfg
index 6c3647aa..341d72a2 100644
--- a/.bumpversion.cfg
+++ b/.bumpversion.cfg
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 [bumpversion]
-current_version = 0.19.0
+current_version = 0.20.0
 commit = True
 tag = True
 
diff --git a/README.rst b/README.rst
index 97388afa..72ec4d57 100644
--- a/README.rst
+++ b/README.rst
@@ -26,6 +26,10 @@ a common operational platform for your python microservices.
 It integrates with many standard python libraries to give you out-of-the-box
 logging, metrics, error reporting, status urls and more.
 
+Python version support
+----------------------
+
+This release of talisker (0.20.0) will be the last to support python 2.7
 
 Quick Start
 -----------
diff --git a/docs/conf.py b/docs/conf.py
index 7cfc02e1..8d2cb00c 100755
--- a/docs/conf.py
+++ b/docs/conf.py
@@ -73,7 +73,7 @@
 # for |version| and |release|, also used in various other places throughout
 # the built documents.
 # The short X.Y version.
-version = '0.19.0'
+version = '0.20.0'
 # The full version, including alpha/beta/rc tags.
 release = version
 
diff --git a/setup.cfg b/setup.cfg
index 79344faf..8137fe04 100644
--- a/setup.cfg
+++ b/setup.cfg
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ filterwarnings = ignore
 
 [metadata]
 name = talisker
-version = 0.19.0
+version = 0.20.0
 description = A common WSGI stack
 long_description = file: README.rst
 author = Simon Davy
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 9ecf710f..2412ca0c 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -203,6 +203,6 @@
     ],
     test_suite='tests',
     url='https://github.com/canonical-ols/talisker',
-    version='0.19.0',
+    version='0.20.0',
     zip_safe=False,
 )
diff --git a/talisker/__init__.py b/talisker/__init__.py
index f543c7c0..494d3cba 100644
--- a/talisker/__init__.py
+++ b/talisker/__init__.py
@@ -48,7 +48,7 @@
     request_timeout,
 )
 
-__version__ = '0.19.0'
+__version__ = '0.20.0'
 __all__ = [
     'initialise',
     'get_config',
diff --git a/talisker/util.py b/talisker/util.py
index d756b985..607f1429 100644
--- a/talisker/util.py
+++ b/talisker/util.py
@@ -276,7 +276,11 @@ def __init__(self):
 
     def _check(self):
         pid = os.getpid()
-        if self._local._pid != pid:
+        if not hasattr(self._local, '_pid'):
+            # In a new thread - just add the missing _pid attr.
+            self._local._pid = pid
+        elif self._local._pid != pid:
+            # In a new process - discard the thread local.
             self._local = threading.local()
             self._local._pid = pid
 
diff --git a/tests/test_gunicorn.py b/tests/test_gunicorn.py
index 27726cbe..c674cd37 100644
--- a/tests/test_gunicorn.py
+++ b/tests/test_gunicorn.py
@@ -220,7 +220,7 @@ def stats():
     sleep_factor = 1
     if os.environ.get('CI') == 'true':
         # travis is slow
-        sleep_factor = 10
+        sleep_factor = 20
 
     with server:
         # forking can be really slow on travis, so make sure *all* the workers
diff --git a/tests/test_requests.py b/tests/test_requests.py
index b98e9802..a4b2e89d 100644
--- a/tests/test_requests.py
+++ b/tests/test_requests.py
@@ -38,6 +38,7 @@
 import requests
 import responses
 import socket
+import threading
 import time
 from future.moves.urllib.parse import urlunsplit
 
@@ -767,6 +768,21 @@ def test_adapter_callsite_retries(mock_urllib3, backends):
     ]
 
 
+def test_threadlocal_threading():
+    session = talisker.requests.get_session()
+    thread_results = {'ok': False}
+
+    def f(results):
+        new_session = talisker.requests.get_session()
+        results['ok'] = new_session is not session
+
+    thread = threading.Thread(target=f, args=(thread_results,))
+    thread.start()
+    thread.join(timeout=1.1)
+
+    assert thread_results['ok']
+
+
 def test_threadlocal_forking():
     session = talisker.requests.get_session()
     if os.fork() == 0:
diff --git a/tests/test_util.py b/tests/test_util.py
index faa5fb92..6cf7c9db 100644
--- a/tests/test_util.py
+++ b/tests/test_util.py
@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@
 
 import os
 import sys
+import threading
 import time
 
 from freezegun import freeze_time
@@ -122,10 +123,36 @@ def test_get_errno_fields_dns():
         }
 
 
-def test_local():
+def test_local_forking():
     local = util.Local()
     local.test = 1
 
     if os.fork() == 0:
         assert not hasattr(local, 'test')
+        local.test = 2
+        assert local.test == 2
         os._exit(0)
+
+
+def test_local_threading():
+    local = util.Local()
+    local.test = 1
+
+    thread_results = {}
+
+    def f(results):
+        results['no_attr'] = not hasattr(local, 'test')
+        try:
+            local.test = 2
+        except Exception:
+            pass
+        else:
+            results['new_attr'] = local.test
+
+    thread = threading.Thread(target=f, args=(thread_results,))
+    thread.start()
+    thread.join(timeout=1.1)
+
+    assert local.test == 1
+    assert thread_results['no_attr']
+    assert thread_results['new_attr'] == 2