diff --git a/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/components/user-menu.js.es6 b/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/components/user-menu.js.es6
index b60a0eb8282..7815295ef20 100644
--- a/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/components/user-menu.js.es6
+++ b/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/components/user-menu.js.es6
@@ -50,10 +50,20 @@ export default Ember.Component.extend({
     // TODO: It's a bit odd to use the store in a component, but this one really
     // wants to reach out and grab notifications
     const store = this.container.lookup('store:main');
-    const stale = store.findStale('notification', {recent: true, limit });
+    const stale = store.findStale('notification', {recent: true, limit }, {storageKey: 'recent-notifications'});
 
     if (stale.hasResults) {
-      this.set('notifications', stale.results);
+      const results = stale.results;
+      var content = results.get('content');
+
+      // we have to truncate to limit, otherwise we will render too much
+      if (content && (content.length > limit)) {
+        content = content.splice(0, limit);
+        results.set('content', content);
+        results.set('totalRows', limit);
+      }
+
+      this.set('notifications', results);
     } else {
       this.set('loadingNotifications', true);
     }
diff --git a/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/initializers/subscribe-user-notifications.js.es6 b/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/initializers/subscribe-user-notifications.js.es6
index 19c64a61b73..92ab828c680 100644
--- a/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/initializers/subscribe-user-notifications.js.es6
+++ b/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/initializers/subscribe-user-notifications.js.es6
@@ -8,7 +8,12 @@ export default {
     const user = container.lookup('current-user:main'),
           site = container.lookup('site:main'),
           siteSettings = container.lookup('site-settings:main'),
-          bus = container.lookup('message-bus:main');
+          bus = container.lookup('message-bus:main'),
+          keyValueStore = container.lookup('key-value-store:main');
+
+    // clear old cached notifications
+    // they could be a week old for all we know
+    keyValueStore.remove('recent-notifications');
 
     if (user) {
 
@@ -38,6 +43,32 @@ export default {
         if (oldUnread !== data.unread_notifications || oldPM !== data.unread_private_messages) {
           user.set('lastNotificationChange', new Date());
         }
+
+        var stale = keyValueStore.getObject('recent-notifications');
+        const lastNotification = data.last_notification && data.last_notification.notification;
+
+        if (stale && stale.notifications && lastNotification) {
+
+          const oldNotifications = stale.notifications;
+          const staleIndex = _.findIndex(oldNotifications, {id: lastNotification.id});
+
+          if (staleIndex > -1) {
+            oldNotifications.splice(staleIndex, 1);
+          }
+
+          // this gets a bit tricky, uread pms are bumped to front
+          var insertPosition = 0;
+          if (lastNotification.notification_type !== 6) {
+            insertPosition = _.findIndex(oldNotifications, function(n){
+              return n.notification_type !== 6 || n.read;
+            });
+            insertPosition = insertPosition === -1 ? oldNotifications.length - 1 : insertPosition;
+          }
+
+          oldNotifications.splice(insertPosition, 0, lastNotification);
+          keyValueStore.setItem('recent-notifications', JSON.stringify(stale));
+
+        }
       }, user.notification_channel_position);
 
       bus.subscribe("/categories", function(data) {
diff --git a/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/lib/key-value-store.js.es6 b/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/lib/key-value-store.js.es6
index b5f13d024ca..30f86b16ec7 100644
--- a/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/lib/key-value-store.js.es6
+++ b/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/lib/key-value-store.js.es6
@@ -43,6 +43,13 @@ KeyValueStore.prototype = {
   get(key) {
     if (!safeLocalStorage) { return null; }
     return safeLocalStorage[this.context + key];
+  },
+
+  getObject(key) {
+    if (!safeLocalStorage) { return null; }
+    try {
+      return JSON.parse(safeLocalStorage[this.context + key]);
+    } catch(e) {}
   }
 };
 
diff --git a/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/mixins/stale-local-storage.js.es6 b/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/mixins/stale-local-storage.js.es6
index d8816c981e6..07dcd548a55 100644
--- a/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/mixins/stale-local-storage.js.es6
+++ b/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/mixins/stale-local-storage.js.es6
@@ -1,8 +1,6 @@
 import StaleResult from 'discourse/lib/stale-result';
 import { hashString } from 'discourse/lib/hash';
 
-var skipFirst = true;
-
 // Mix this in to an adapter to provide stale caching in our key value store
 export default {
   storageKey(type, findArgs) {
@@ -10,17 +8,14 @@ export default {
     return `${type}_${hashedArgs}`;
   },
 
-  findStale(store, type, findArgs) {
+  findStale(store, type, findArgs, opts) {
     const staleResult = new StaleResult();
+    const key = (opts && opts.storageKey) || this.storageKey(type, findArgs)
     try {
-      if (!skipFirst) {
-        const stored = this.keyValueStore.getItem(this.storageKey(type, findArgs));
-        if (stored) {
-          const parsed = JSON.parse(stored);
-          staleResult.setResults(parsed);
-        }
-      } else {
-        skipFirst = false;
+      const stored = this.keyValueStore.getItem(key);
+      if (stored) {
+        const parsed = JSON.parse(stored);
+        staleResult.setResults(parsed);
       }
     } catch(e) {
       // JSON parsing error
@@ -28,9 +23,11 @@ export default {
     return staleResult;
   },
 
-  find(store, type, findArgs) {
+  find(store, type, findArgs, opts) {
+    const key = (opts && opts.storageKey) || this.storageKey(type, findArgs)
+
     return this._super(store, type, findArgs).then((results) => {
-      this.keyValueStore.setItem(this.storageKey(type, findArgs), JSON.stringify(results));
+      this.keyValueStore.setItem(key, JSON.stringify(results));
       return results;
     });
   }
diff --git a/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/models/store.js.es6 b/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/models/store.js.es6
index 851b712a61c..dec3fcec764 100644
--- a/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/models/store.js.es6
+++ b/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/models/store.js.es6
@@ -71,18 +71,18 @@ export default Ember.Object.extend({
 
   // See if the store can find stale data. We sometimes prefer to show stale data and
   // refresh it in the background.
-  findStale(type, findArgs) {
-    const stale = this.adapterFor(type).findStale(this, type, findArgs);
+  findStale(type, findArgs, opts) {
+    const stale = this.adapterFor(type).findStale(this, type, findArgs, opts);
     if (stale.hasResults) {
       stale.results = this._hydrateFindResults(stale.results, type, findArgs);
     }
-    stale.refresh = () => this.find(type, findArgs);
+    stale.refresh = () => this.find(type, findArgs, opts);
     return stale;
   },
 
-  find(type, findArgs) {
-    return this.adapterFor(type).find(this, type, findArgs).then((result) => {
-      return this._hydrateFindResults(result, type, findArgs);
+  find(type, findArgs, opts) {
+    return this.adapterFor(type).find(this, type, findArgs, opts).then((result) => {
+      return this._hydrateFindResults(result, type, findArgs, opts);
     });
   },
 
diff --git a/app/models/user.rb b/app/models/user.rb
index a329f88dc05..31a37e2b7e6 100644
--- a/app/models/user.rb
+++ b/app/models/user.rb
@@ -306,10 +306,17 @@ class User < ActiveRecord::Base
   end
 
   def publish_notifications_state
+    # publish last notification json with the message so we
+    # can apply an update
+    notification = notifications.visible.order('notifications.id desc').first
+    json = NotificationSerializer.new(notification).as_json if notification
+
     MessageBus.publish("/notification/#{id}",
                        {unread_notifications: unread_notifications,
                         unread_private_messages: unread_private_messages,
-                        total_unread_notifications: total_unread_notifications},
+                        total_unread_notifications: total_unread_notifications,
+                        last_notification: json
+                       },
                        user_ids: [id] # only publish the notification to this user
     )
   end