diff --git a/changelog.d/3612.misc b/changelog.d/3612.misc
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..f90d2f2ff5186e0f0c61eff78b44dc9759fdbccc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelog.d/3612.misc
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Make EventStore inherit from EventFederationStore
diff --git a/synapse/storage/__init__.py b/synapse/storage/__init__.py
index ba88a549797542cd9a856b495e77bc2d8322ddf9..3bd63cd195faeca30aa418b2f542fa80a3b6167b 100644
--- a/synapse/storage/__init__.py
+++ b/synapse/storage/__init__.py
@@ -66,6 +66,7 @@ class DataStore(RoomMemberStore, RoomStore,
                 PresenceStore, TransactionStore,
                 DirectoryStore, KeyStore, StateStore, SignatureStore,
                 ApplicationServiceStore,
+                EventsStore,
                 EventFederationStore,
                 MediaRepositoryStore,
                 RejectionsStore,
@@ -73,7 +74,6 @@ class DataStore(RoomMemberStore, RoomStore,
                 PusherStore,
                 PushRuleStore,
                 ApplicationServiceTransactionStore,
-                EventsStore,
                 ReceiptsStore,
                 EndToEndKeyStore,
                 SearchStore,
diff --git a/synapse/storage/appservice.py b/synapse/storage/appservice.py
index 9f12b360bcbe09aaabb7758ce7ea2042f2d05af1..31248d5e068c710e3397386e33ef24fdfe519943 100644
--- a/synapse/storage/appservice.py
+++ b/synapse/storage/appservice.py
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ from twisted.internet import defer
 
 from synapse.appservice import AppServiceTransaction
 from synapse.config.appservice import load_appservices
-from synapse.storage.events import EventsWorkerStore
+from synapse.storage.events_worker import EventsWorkerStore
 
 from ._base import SQLBaseStore
 
diff --git a/synapse/storage/event_federation.py b/synapse/storage/event_federation.py
index 5d3ee900173c7c69779972510d6643e6aaee3b9f..8bd35df1191cf790bafc31996fcbbc767e836e17 100644
--- a/synapse/storage/event_federation.py
+++ b/synapse/storage/event_federation.py
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ from twisted.internet import defer
 from synapse.api.errors import StoreError
 from synapse.metrics.background_process_metrics import run_as_background_process
 from synapse.storage._base import SQLBaseStore
-from synapse.storage.events import EventsWorkerStore
+from synapse.storage.events_worker import EventsWorkerStore
 from synapse.storage.signatures import SignatureWorkerStore
 from synapse.util.caches.descriptors import cached
 
diff --git a/synapse/storage/events.py b/synapse/storage/events.py
index 2f482af3a15295442f6c5857a72b656fe4383b0e..c98e524ba1c6fc6c2fab0dcc59209833d2924970 100644
--- a/synapse/storage/events.py
+++ b/synapse/storage/events.py
@@ -34,6 +34,8 @@ from synapse.api.errors import SynapseError
 from synapse.events import EventBase  # noqa: F401
 from synapse.events.snapshot import EventContext  # noqa: F401
 from synapse.metrics.background_process_metrics import run_as_background_process
+from synapse.storage.background_updates import BackgroundUpdateStore
+from synapse.storage.event_federation import EventFederationStore
 from synapse.storage.events_worker import EventsWorkerStore
 from synapse.types import RoomStreamToken, get_domain_from_id
 from synapse.util.async import ObservableDeferred
@@ -193,7 +195,9 @@ def _retry_on_integrity_error(func):
     return f
 
 
-class EventsStore(EventsWorkerStore):
+# inherits from EventFederationStore so that we can call _update_backward_extremities
+# and _handle_mult_prev_events (though arguably those could both be moved in here)
+class EventsStore(EventFederationStore, EventsWorkerStore, BackgroundUpdateStore):
     EVENT_ORIGIN_SERVER_TS_NAME = "event_origin_server_ts"
     EVENT_FIELDS_SENDER_URL_UPDATE_NAME = "event_fields_sender_url"
 
diff --git a/synapse/storage/roommember.py b/synapse/storage/roommember.py
index 027bf8c85ee23ed333137e7213b85eb5bedd0f30..10dce21cea19a72618682341baf2ce4c1f0ec0bb 100644
--- a/synapse/storage/roommember.py
+++ b/synapse/storage/roommember.py
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ from canonicaljson import json
 from twisted.internet import defer
 
 from synapse.api.constants import EventTypes, Membership
-from synapse.storage.events import EventsWorkerStore
+from synapse.storage.events_worker import EventsWorkerStore
 from synapse.types import get_domain_from_id
 from synapse.util.async import Linearizer
 from synapse.util.caches import intern_string
diff --git a/synapse/storage/stream.py b/synapse/storage/stream.py
index 25d0097b58e4590826c2fe40cb74e628d0800d87..b9f2b74ac64b2bc692ab618313b6ce4608bd61a9 100644
--- a/synapse/storage/stream.py
+++ b/synapse/storage/stream.py
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ from twisted.internet import defer
 
 from synapse.storage._base import SQLBaseStore
 from synapse.storage.engines import PostgresEngine
-from synapse.storage.events import EventsWorkerStore
+from synapse.storage.events_worker import EventsWorkerStore
 from synapse.types import RoomStreamToken
 from synapse.util.caches.stream_change_cache import StreamChangeCache
 from synapse.util.logcontext import make_deferred_yieldable, run_in_background