diff --git a/allianceauth/authentication/urls.py b/allianceauth/authentication/urls.py
index 60f89cdc..11fee0b9 100644
--- a/allianceauth/authentication/urls.py
+++ b/allianceauth/authentication/urls.py
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 from django.conf.urls import url
+from django.contrib.auth.decorators import login_required
 from django.views.generic.base import TemplateView
 
 from . import views
@@ -23,9 +24,4 @@ urlpatterns = [
         name='add_character'
     ),   
     url(r'^dashboard/$', views.dashboard, name='dashboard'),
-    url(
-        r'^notifications_render/$', 
-        views.notifications_render, 
-        name='notifications_render'
-    ),
 ]
diff --git a/allianceauth/authentication/views.py b/allianceauth/authentication/views.py
index d50ba245..98b93a62 100644
--- a/allianceauth/authentication/views.py
+++ b/allianceauth/authentication/views.py
@@ -6,13 +6,11 @@ from django.contrib.auth import login, authenticate
 from django.contrib.auth.decorators import login_required
 from django.contrib.auth.models import User
 from django.core import signing
-from django.http import HttpResponse
-from django.shortcuts import redirect, render
 from django.urls import reverse
+from django.shortcuts import redirect, render
 from django.utils.translation import gettext_lazy as _
 
 from allianceauth.eveonline.models import EveCharacter
-
 from esi.decorators import token_required
 from esi.models import Token
 
@@ -61,14 +59,6 @@ def dashboard(request):
     return render(request, 'authentication/dashboard.html', context)
 
 
-@login_required
-def notifications_render(request):
-    """returns html to render the notifications item in the top menu"""
-    unread_count = request.user.notification_set.filter(viewed=False).count()
-    context = {'notifications': unread_count}
-    return render(request, 'allianceauth/notifications_menu_item.html', context)
-
-
 @login_required
 @token_required(scopes=settings.LOGIN_TOKEN_SCOPES)
 def main_character_change(request, token):
diff --git a/allianceauth/static/js/base.js b/allianceauth/static/js/base.js
deleted file mode 100644
index e8b64b45..00000000
--- a/allianceauth/static/js/base.js
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,27 +0,0 @@
-/*
-    Javascript for the base template
-*/
-
-$(function() {
-    var elem = document.getElementById("dataExport");
-    var notificationsRenderUrl = elem.getAttribute("data-notificationsRenderUrl");
-    
-    // render the notifications item in the top menu
-    function render_notifications(){
-        $("#menu_item_notifications").load(
-            notificationsRenderUrl, 
-            function(responseTxt, statusTxt, xhr){
-                if(statusTxt == "error")
-                    console.log(
-                        "Failed to load HTMl to render notifications item. Error: " 
-                        + xhr.status 
-                        + ": " 
-                        + xhr.statusText
-                    );
-        });
-    }
-    render_notifications()
-    
-    // re-render notifications every x seconds
-    setInterval(render_notifications, 5000);
-});
diff --git a/allianceauth/templates/allianceauth/base.html b/allianceauth/templates/allianceauth/base.html
index 2a9b1633..ee7db14d 100644
--- a/allianceauth/templates/allianceauth/base.html
+++ b/allianceauth/templates/allianceauth/base.html
@@ -45,7 +45,6 @@
 {% endif %}
 {% include 'bundles/bootstrap-js.html' %}
 {% block extra_javascript %}
-    <script src="{% static 'js/base.js' %}"></script>
 {% endblock extra_javascript %}
 <script>
     {% block extra_script %}
diff --git a/allianceauth/templates/allianceauth/notifications_menu_item.html b/allianceauth/templates/allianceauth/notifications_menu_item.html
deleted file mode 100644
index a11a1ccc..00000000
--- a/allianceauth/templates/allianceauth/notifications_menu_item.html
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,9 +0,0 @@
-{% if notifications %}
-    <a href="{% url 'notifications:list' %}">Notifications
-        <span class="badge">{{ notifications }}</span>
-    </a>    
-{% else %}
-    <a href="{% url 'notifications:list' %}">
-        <i class="fa fa-bell-o"></i>
-    </a>    
-{% endif %}
diff --git a/allianceauth/templates/allianceauth/top-menu.html b/allianceauth/templates/allianceauth/top-menu.html
index 06c74e07..85d459a9 100644
--- a/allianceauth/templates/allianceauth/top-menu.html
+++ b/allianceauth/templates/allianceauth/top-menu.html
@@ -20,11 +20,17 @@
                     <li>
                         {% include 'allianceauth/night-toggle.html' %}
                     </li>
-                    <li 
-                        class="{% navactive request 'notifications:' %}" id="menu_item_notifications"
-                    >
-                        {% include 'allianceauth/notifications_menu_item.html' %}
+                {% if notifications %}
+                    <li class="{% navactive request 'notifications:' %}">
+                        <a href="{% url 'notifications:list' %}">Notifications
+                            <span class="badge">{{ notifications }}</span>
+                        </a>
                     </li>
+                {% else %}
+                    <li><a href="{% url 'notifications:list' %}">
+                        <i class="fa fa-bell-o"></i></a>
+                    </li>
+                {% endif %}
                 {% if user.is_authenticated %}
                     {% if user.is_staff %}
                         <li><a href="{% url 'admin:index' %}">{% trans "Admin" %}</a></li>
@@ -58,9 +64,3 @@
         </div>
     </div>
 </nav>
-<!-- share data with JS part -->
-<div 
-    id="dataExport"     
-    data-notificationsRenderUrl="{% url 'authentication:notifications_render' %}"
->
-</div>