diff --git a/database.cc b/database.cc
index 452e3f7f35..9b2d813bc5 100644
--- a/database.cc
+++ b/database.cc
@@ -760,9 +760,6 @@ void database::set_format_by_config() {
 }
 
 database::~database() {
-    _read_concurrency_sem.clear_inactive_reads();
-    _streaming_concurrency_sem.clear_inactive_reads();
-    _system_read_concurrency_sem.clear_inactive_reads();
 }
 
 void database::update_version(const utils::UUID& version) {
@@ -2016,6 +2013,13 @@ future<>
 database::stop() {
     assert(!_large_data_handler->running());
 
+    // Inactive reads might hold on to sstables, blocking the
+    // `sstables_manager::close()` calls below. No one will come back for these
+    // reads at this point so clear them before proceeding with the shutdown.
+    _read_concurrency_sem.clear_inactive_reads();
+    _streaming_concurrency_sem.clear_inactive_reads();
+    _system_read_concurrency_sem.clear_inactive_reads();
+
     // try to ensure that CL has done disk flushing
     future<> maybe_shutdown_commitlog = _commitlog != nullptr ? _commitlog->shutdown() : make_ready_future<>();
     return maybe_shutdown_commitlog.then([this] {