diff --git a/src/groupchat_window.py b/src/groupchat_window.py
index d11f9fc87..6928f40d0 100644
--- a/src/groupchat_window.py
+++ b/src/groupchat_window.py
@@ -1003,7 +1003,7 @@ class GroupchatWindow(chat.Chat):
 		self.xmls[room_jid] = gtk.glade.XML(GTKGUI_GLADE, 'gc_vbox', APP)
 		self.childs[room_jid] = self.xmls[room_jid].get_widget('gc_vbox')
 		chat.Chat.new_tab(self, room_jid)
-		self.nicks[room_jid] = gtkgui_helpers.ensure_unicode_string(nick)
+		self.nicks[room_jid] = nick.decode('utf-8')
 		self.subjects[room_jid] = ''
 		self.room_creation[room_jid] = time.time()
 		self.nick_hits[room_jid] = []
diff --git a/src/gtkgui_helpers.py b/src/gtkgui_helpers.py
index 2edb19a7d..f3b177b72 100644
--- a/src/gtkgui_helpers.py
+++ b/src/gtkgui_helpers.py
@@ -86,8 +86,8 @@ def reduce_chars_newlines(text, max_chars = 0, max_lines = 0,
 	If any of the params is not present(None or 0) the action
 	on it is not performed
 	'''
-	# assure that we have only unicode text
-	text = ensure_unicode_string(text)
+	# make sure that we have only unicode text
+	text = text.decode('utf-8')
 	
 	def _cut_if_long(str):
 		if len(str) > max_chars:
@@ -122,11 +122,6 @@ def escape_for_pango_markup(string):
 	
 	return escaped_str
 
-def ensure_unicode_string(string):
-	if type(string) == str:  
-		return unicode(string, encoding = 'utf-8')  
-	return string
-
 def autodetect_browser_mailer():
 	#recognize the environment for appropriate browser/mailer
 	if os.path.isdir('/proc'):