diff --git a/artemis-commons/src/main/java/org/apache/activemq/artemis/api/core/SimpleString.java b/artemis-commons/src/main/java/org/apache/activemq/artemis/api/core/SimpleString.java
index 91d884b375..b2a36d63aa 100644
--- a/artemis-commons/src/main/java/org/apache/activemq/artemis/api/core/SimpleString.java
+++ b/artemis-commons/src/main/java/org/apache/activemq/artemis/api/core/SimpleString.java
@@ -447,6 +447,25 @@ public final class SimpleString implements CharSequence, Serializable, Comparabl
       return false;
    }
 
+   public boolean containsEitherOf(final char c, final char d) {
+      if (this.str != null) {
+         return this.str.indexOf(c) != -1 || this.str.indexOf(d) != -1;
+      }
+      final byte lowc = (byte) (c & 0xFF); // low byte
+      final byte highc = (byte) (c >> 8 & 0xFF); // high byte
+
+      final byte lowd = (byte) (d & 0xFF); // low byte
+      final byte highd = (byte) (d >> 8 & 0xFF); // high byte
+
+      for (int i = 0; i + 1 < data.length; i += 2) {
+         if ( data[i] == lowc && data[i + 1] == highc ||
+            data[i] == lowd && data[i + 1] == highd ) {
+            return true;
+         }
+      }
+      return false;
+   }
+
    /**
     * Concatenates a SimpleString and a String
     *
diff --git a/artemis-server/src/main/java/org/apache/activemq/artemis/core/postoffice/impl/AddressImpl.java b/artemis-server/src/main/java/org/apache/activemq/artemis/core/postoffice/impl/AddressImpl.java
index 12ef067669..a0d15aaab2 100644
--- a/artemis-server/src/main/java/org/apache/activemq/artemis/core/postoffice/impl/AddressImpl.java
+++ b/artemis-server/src/main/java/org/apache/activemq/artemis/core/postoffice/impl/AddressImpl.java
@@ -17,7 +17,6 @@
 package org.apache.activemq.artemis.core.postoffice.impl;
 
 import java.util.ArrayList;
-import java.util.Collections;
 import java.util.List;
 
 import org.apache.activemq.artemis.api.core.SimpleString;
@@ -37,7 +36,7 @@ public class AddressImpl implements Address {
 
    private final boolean containsWildCard;
 
-   private List<Address> linkedAddresses = null;
+   private final List<Address> linkedAddresses = new ArrayList<>();
 
    private final WildcardConfiguration wildcardConfiguration;
 
@@ -49,7 +48,7 @@ public class AddressImpl implements Address {
       this.address = address;
       this.wildcardConfiguration = wildcardConfiguration;
       addressParts = address.split(wildcardConfiguration.getDelimiter());
-      containsWildCard = address.contains(wildcardConfiguration.getSingleWord()) || address.contains(wildcardConfiguration.getAnyWords());
+      containsWildCard = address.containsEitherOf(wildcardConfiguration.getSingleWord(), wildcardConfiguration.getAnyWords());
    }
 
    @Override
@@ -69,24 +68,16 @@ public class AddressImpl implements Address {
 
    @Override
    public List<Address> getLinkedAddresses() {
-      return linkedAddresses == null ? Collections.emptyList() : linkedAddresses;
+      return linkedAddresses;
    }
 
    @Override
    public void addLinkedAddress(final Address address) {
-      if (linkedAddresses == null) {
-         linkedAddresses = new ArrayList<>(1);
-      }
-      if (!linkedAddresses.contains(address)) {
-         linkedAddresses.add(address);
-      }
+      linkedAddresses.add(address);
    }
 
    @Override
    public void removeLinkedAddress(final Address actualAddress) {
-      if (linkedAddresses == null) {
-         return;
-      }
       linkedAddresses.remove(actualAddress);
    }
 
diff --git a/artemis-server/src/main/java/org/apache/activemq/artemis/core/postoffice/impl/WildcardAddressManager.java b/artemis-server/src/main/java/org/apache/activemq/artemis/core/postoffice/impl/WildcardAddressManager.java
index 6dc173734b..f30fa62b5d 100644
--- a/artemis-server/src/main/java/org/apache/activemq/artemis/core/postoffice/impl/WildcardAddressManager.java
+++ b/artemis-server/src/main/java/org/apache/activemq/artemis/core/postoffice/impl/WildcardAddressManager.java
@@ -183,29 +183,30 @@ public class WildcardAddressManager extends SimpleAddressManager {
    }
 
    private synchronized Address addAndUpdateAddressMap(final SimpleString address) {
-      Address add = new AddressImpl(address, wildcardConfiguration);
       Address actualAddress;
-      if (add.containsWildCard()) {
+      final boolean containsWildcard = address.containsEitherOf(wildcardConfiguration.getAnyWords(), wildcardConfiguration.getSingleWord());
+      if (containsWildcard) {
          actualAddress = wildCardAddresses.get(address);
       } else {
          actualAddress = addresses.get(address);
       }
       if (actualAddress == null) {
-         actualAddress = add;
+         actualAddress = new AddressImpl(address, wildcardConfiguration);
          addAddress(address, actualAddress);
-      }
-      if (actualAddress.containsWildCard()) {
-         for (Address destAdd : addresses.values()) {
-            if (destAdd.matches(actualAddress)) {
-               destAdd.addLinkedAddress(actualAddress);
-               actualAddress.addLinkedAddress(destAdd);
+
+         if (containsWildcard) {
+            for (Address destAdd : addresses.values()) {
+               if (destAdd.matches(actualAddress)) {
+                  destAdd.addLinkedAddress(actualAddress);
+                  actualAddress.addLinkedAddress(destAdd);
+               }
             }
-         }
-      } else {
-         for (Address destAdd : wildCardAddresses.values()) {
-            if (actualAddress.matches(destAdd)) {
-               destAdd.addLinkedAddress(actualAddress);
-               actualAddress.addLinkedAddress(destAdd);
+         } else {
+            for (Address destAdd : wildCardAddresses.values()) {
+               if (actualAddress.matches(destAdd)) {
+                  destAdd.addLinkedAddress(actualAddress);
+                  actualAddress.addLinkedAddress(destAdd);
+               }
             }
          }
       }