diff --git a/src/index.js b/src/index.js
index 383fd6a..037aa10 100644
--- a/src/index.js
+++ b/src/index.js
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ const contains = require('lodash.contains')
 exports = module.exports = TCP
 
 const IPFS_CODE = 421
+const CLOSE_TIMEOUT = 300
 
 function TCP () {
   if (!(this instanceof TCP)) {
@@ -56,6 +57,17 @@ function TCP () {
         }
         handler(conn)
       })
+
+      listener.__connections = {}
+      listener.on('connection', (conn) => {
+        const key = `${conn.remoteAddress}:${conn.remotePort}`
+        listener.__connections[key] = conn
+
+        conn.on('close', () => {
+          delete listener.__connections[key]
+        })
+      })
+
       listener.listen(m.toOptions(), () => {
         // Node.js likes to convert addr to IPv6 (when 0.0.0.0 for e.g)
         const address = listener.address()
@@ -86,13 +98,21 @@ function TCP () {
   }
 
   this.close = (callback) => {
+    log('closing')
     if (listeners.length === 0) {
       log('Called close with no active listeners')
       return callback()
     }
 
-    parallel(listeners.map((listener) => {
-      return (cb) => listener.close(cb)
+    parallel(listeners.map((listener) => (cb) => {
+      setTimeout(() => {
+        Object.keys(listener.__connections).forEach((key) => {
+          log('destroying %s', key)
+          listener.__connections[key].destroy()
+        })
+      }, CLOSE_TIMEOUT)
+
+      listener.close(cb)
     }), callback)
   }
 
diff --git a/test/index.spec.js b/test/index.spec.js
index 33a638c..df3ed8a 100644
--- a/test/index.spec.js
+++ b/test/index.spec.js
@@ -148,4 +148,35 @@ describe('libp2p-tcp', function () {
     expect(valid[0]).to.deep.equal(mh1)
     done()
   })
+
+  it('destroys after timeout', (done) => {
+    const server = new TCPlibp2p()
+    const mh = multiaddr('/ip4/127.0.0.1/tcp/9090')
+    server.createListener(mh, (conn) => {
+      const i = setInterval(() => {
+        conn.read()
+        conn.write('hi\n')
+      }, 100)
+      i.unref()
+    }, () => {
+      let connected = 0
+      const connectHandler = () => {
+        connected++
+        if (connected === 10) {
+          setTimeout(() => {
+            server.close(done)
+          }, 1)
+        }
+      }
+      const errorHandler = () => {}
+
+      for (let i = 0; i < 10; i++) {
+        const client = net.connect(9090)
+        client.on('connect', connectHandler)
+
+        // just ignore the resets
+        client.on('error', errorHandler)
+      }
+    })
+  })
 })