diff --git a/spring-rabbit/src/main/java/org/springframework/amqp/rabbit/listener/BlockingQueueConsumer.java b/spring-rabbit/src/main/java/org/springframework/amqp/rabbit/listener/BlockingQueueConsumer.java
index 8c814d18..f2f2007a 100644
--- a/spring-rabbit/src/main/java/org/springframework/amqp/rabbit/listener/BlockingQueueConsumer.java
+++ b/spring-rabbit/src/main/java/org/springframework/amqp/rabbit/listener/BlockingQueueConsumer.java
@@ -57,16 +57,16 @@ public class BlockingQueueConsumer {
 
 	private final ConnectionFactory connectionFactory;
 
-	private final ActiveObjectCounter<BlockingQueueConsumer> stopped;
+	private final ActiveObjectCounter<BlockingQueueConsumer> activeObjectCounter;
 
 	/**
 	 * Create a consumer. The consumer must not attempt to use the connection factory or communicate with the broker
 	 * until it is started.
 	 */
-	public BlockingQueueConsumer(ConnectionFactory connectionFactory, ActiveObjectCounter<BlockingQueueConsumer> stopped,
+	public BlockingQueueConsumer(ConnectionFactory connectionFactory, ActiveObjectCounter<BlockingQueueConsumer> activeObjectCounter,
 			AcknowledgeMode acknowledgeMode, boolean transactional, int prefetchCount, String... queues) {
 		this.connectionFactory = connectionFactory;
-		this.stopped = stopped;
+		this.activeObjectCounter = activeObjectCounter;
 		this.acknowledgeMode = acknowledgeMode;
 		this.transactional = transactional;
 		this.prefetchCount = prefetchCount;
@@ -148,7 +148,7 @@ public class BlockingQueueConsumer {
 		this.channel = ConnectionFactoryUtils.getTransactionalResourceHolder(connectionFactory, transactional)
 				.getChannel();
 		this.consumer = new InternalConsumer(channel);
-		this.stopped.add(this);
+		this.activeObjectCounter.add(this);
 		try {
 			// Set basicQos before calling basicConsume (it is ignored if we are not transactional and the broker will
 			// send blocks of 100 messages)
@@ -157,6 +157,7 @@ public class BlockingQueueConsumer {
 				channel.queueDeclarePassive(queues[i]);
 			}
 		} catch (IOException e) {
+			this.activeObjectCounter.release(this);
 			throw new ListenerStartupFatalException("Cannot prepare queue for listener. "
 					+ "Either the queue doesn't exist or the broker will not allow us to use it.", e);
 		}
@@ -202,7 +203,7 @@ public class BlockingQueueConsumer {
 				logger.debug("Received cancellation notice for " + BlockingQueueConsumer.this);
 			}
 			// Signal to the container that we have been cancelled
-			stopped.release(BlockingQueueConsumer.this);
+			activeObjectCounter.release(BlockingQueueConsumer.this);
 		}
 
 		@Override
diff --git a/spring-rabbit/src/main/java/org/springframework/amqp/rabbit/listener/SimpleMessageListenerContainer.java b/spring-rabbit/src/main/java/org/springframework/amqp/rabbit/listener/SimpleMessageListenerContainer.java
index 8b83d87b..461f5734 100644
--- a/spring-rabbit/src/main/java/org/springframework/amqp/rabbit/listener/SimpleMessageListenerContainer.java
+++ b/spring-rabbit/src/main/java/org/springframework/amqp/rabbit/listener/SimpleMessageListenerContainer.java
@@ -19,7 +19,6 @@ import java.util.concurrent.CountDownLatch;
 import java.util.concurrent.Executor;
 import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
 import java.util.concurrent.TimeoutException;
-import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicBoolean;
 
 import org.aopalliance.aop.Advice;
 import org.springframework.amqp.AmqpException;
@@ -432,8 +431,6 @@ public class SimpleMessageListenerContainer extends AbstractMessageListenerConta
 
 		private volatile ListenerStartupFatalException startupException;
 
-		private AtomicBoolean started = new AtomicBoolean(false);
-
 		public AsyncMessageProcessingConsumer(BlockingQueueConsumer consumer) {
 			this.consumer = consumer;
 			this.start = new CountDownLatch(1);
@@ -448,9 +445,6 @@ public class SimpleMessageListenerContainer extends AbstractMessageListenerConta
 		 * @throws InterruptedException if the consumer startup is interrupted
 		 */
 		public ListenerStartupFatalException getStartupException() throws TimeoutException, InterruptedException {
-			if (!started.get()) {
-				return null;
-			}
 			if (!start.await(60000L, TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS)) {
 				throw new TimeoutException("Timed out waiting for startup");
 			}
@@ -460,7 +454,6 @@ public class SimpleMessageListenerContainer extends AbstractMessageListenerConta
 		public void run() {
 
 			boolean aborted = false;
-			this.started.set(true);
 
 			try {
 
@@ -506,6 +499,7 @@ public class SimpleMessageListenerContainer extends AbstractMessageListenerConta
 				}
 			}
 
+			// In all cases count down to allow container to progress beyond startup
 			start.countDown();
 
 			if (!isActive() || aborted) {
@@ -516,6 +510,7 @@ public class SimpleMessageListenerContainer extends AbstractMessageListenerConta
 					logger.info("Could not cancel message consumer", e);
 				}
 				if (aborted) {
+					logger.info("Stopping container from aborted consumer");
 					stop();
 				}
 			} else {
diff --git a/spring-rabbit/src/test/java/org/springframework/amqp/rabbit/listener/MessageListenerRecoveryCachingConnectionIntegrationTests.java b/spring-rabbit/src/test/java/org/springframework/amqp/rabbit/listener/MessageListenerRecoveryCachingConnectionIntegrationTests.java
index 6e831f1a..d5d65afe 100644
--- a/spring-rabbit/src/test/java/org/springframework/amqp/rabbit/listener/MessageListenerRecoveryCachingConnectionIntegrationTests.java
+++ b/spring-rabbit/src/test/java/org/springframework/amqp/rabbit/listener/MessageListenerRecoveryCachingConnectionIntegrationTests.java
@@ -12,7 +12,6 @@ import org.apache.commons.logging.Log;
 import org.apache.commons.logging.LogFactory;
 import org.apache.log4j.Level;
 import org.junit.After;
-import org.junit.Ignore;
 import org.junit.Rule;
 import org.junit.Test;
 import org.springframework.amqp.AmqpIllegalStateException;
@@ -257,8 +256,11 @@ public class MessageListenerRecoveryCachingConnectionIntegrationTests {
 	}
 
 	@Test(expected = AmqpIllegalStateException.class)
-	@Ignore
 	public void testSingleListenerDoesNotRecoverFromMissingQueue() throws Exception {
+		/*
+		 * A single listener sometimes doesn't have time to attempt to start before we ask it if it has failed, so this
+		 * is a good test of that potential bug.
+		 */
 		concurrentConsumers = 1;
 		CountDownLatch latch = new CountDownLatch(messageCount);
 		container = createContainer("nonexistent", new VanillaListener(latch), createConnectionFactory());