diff --git a/platypush/backend/http/__init__.py b/platypush/backend/http/__init__.py
index 12ce9f2c5..6bda90657 100644
--- a/platypush/backend/http/__init__.py
+++ b/platypush/backend/http/__init__.py
@@ -2,13 +2,17 @@ import asyncio
 import os
 import pathlib
 import secrets
+import signal
 import threading
 
+from functools import partial
 from multiprocessing import Process
 from time import time
-from typing import List, Mapping, Optional
-from tornado.httpserver import HTTPServer
+from typing import Mapping, Optional
 
+import psutil
+
+from tornado.httpserver import HTTPServer
 from tornado.netutil import bind_sockets
 from tornado.process import cpu_count, fork_processes
 from tornado.wsgi import WSGIContainer
@@ -18,9 +22,9 @@ from platypush.backend import Backend
 from platypush.backend.http.app import application
 from platypush.backend.http.app.utils import get_streaming_routes, get_ws_routes
 from platypush.backend.http.app.ws.events import WSEventProxy
-
 from platypush.bus.redis import RedisBus
 from platypush.config import Config
+from platypush.utils import get_remaining_timeout
 
 
 class HttpBackend(Backend):
@@ -191,6 +195,9 @@ class HttpBackend(Backend):
     _DEFAULT_HTTP_PORT = 8008
     """The default listen port for the webserver."""
 
+    _STOP_TIMEOUT = 5
+    """How long we should wait (in seconds) before killing the worker processes."""
+
     def __init__(
         self,
         port: int = _DEFAULT_HTTP_PORT,
@@ -227,7 +234,6 @@ class HttpBackend(Backend):
 
         self.port = port
         self._server_proc: Optional[Process] = None
-        self._workers: List[Process] = []
         self._service_registry_thread = None
         self.bind_address = bind_address
 
@@ -254,39 +260,37 @@ class HttpBackend(Backend):
         """On backend stop"""
         super().on_stop()
         self.logger.info('Received STOP event on HttpBackend')
-
-        start_time = time()
-        timeout = 5
-        workers = self._workers.copy()
-
-        for i, worker in enumerate(workers[::-1]):
-            if worker and worker.is_alive():
-                worker.terminate()
-                worker.join(timeout=max(0, start_time + timeout - time()))
-
-            if worker and worker.is_alive():
-                worker.kill()
-                self._workers.pop(i)
+        start = time()
+        remaining_time: partial[float] = partial(  # type: ignore
+            get_remaining_timeout, timeout=self._STOP_TIMEOUT, start=start
+        )
 
         if self._server_proc:
-            try:
-                self._server_proc.terminate()
-                self._server_proc.join(timeout=5)
-            except AttributeError:
-                pass
+            if self._server_proc.pid:
+                try:
+                    os.kill(self._server_proc.pid, signal.SIGINT)
+                except OSError:
+                    pass
 
-            self._server_proc = None
+            if self._server_proc and self._server_proc.is_alive():
+                self._server_proc.join(timeout=remaining_time() / 2)
+                try:
+                    self._server_proc.terminate()
+                    self._server_proc.join(timeout=remaining_time() / 2)
+                except AttributeError:
+                    pass
 
         if self._server_proc and self._server_proc.is_alive():
             self._server_proc.kill()
 
         self._server_proc = None
-        self.logger.info('HTTP server terminated')
 
         if self._service_registry_thread and self._service_registry_thread.is_alive():
-            self._service_registry_thread.join(timeout=5)
+            self._service_registry_thread.join(timeout=remaining_time())
             self._service_registry_thread = None
 
+        self.logger.info('HTTP server terminated')
+
     def notify_web_clients(self, event):
         """Notify all the connected web clients (over websocket) of a new event"""
         WSEventProxy.publish(event)  # noqa: E1120
@@ -348,7 +352,10 @@ class HttpBackend(Backend):
         try:
             await asyncio.Event().wait()
         except (asyncio.CancelledError, KeyboardInterrupt):
-            return
+            pass
+        finally:
+            server.stop()
+            await server.close_all_connections()
 
     def _web_server_proc(self):
         self.logger.info(
@@ -375,7 +382,65 @@ class HttpBackend(Backend):
                 future = self._post_fork_main(sockets)
                 asyncio.run(future)
             except (asyncio.CancelledError, KeyboardInterrupt):
-                return
+                pass
+            finally:
+                self._stop_workers()
+
+    def _stop_workers(self):
+        """
+        Stop all the worker processes.
+
+        We have to run this manually on server termination because of a
+        long-standing issue with Tornado not being able to wind down the forked
+        workers when the server terminates:
+        https://github.com/tornadoweb/tornado/issues/1912.
+        """
+        parent_pid = (
+            self._server_proc.pid
+            if self._server_proc and self._server_proc.pid
+            else None
+        )
+
+        if not parent_pid:
+            return
+
+        try:
+            cur_proc = psutil.Process(parent_pid)
+        except psutil.NoSuchProcess:
+            return
+
+        # Send a SIGTERM to all the children
+        children = cur_proc.children()
+        for child in children:
+            if child.pid != parent_pid and child.is_running():
+                try:
+                    os.kill(child.pid, signal.SIGTERM)
+                except OSError as e:
+                    self.logger.warning(
+                        'Could not send SIGTERM to PID %d: %s', child.pid, e
+                    )
+
+        # Initialize the timeout
+        start = time()
+        remaining_time: partial[int] = partial(  # type: ignore
+            get_remaining_timeout, timeout=self._STOP_TIMEOUT, start=start, cls=int
+        )
+
+        # Wait for all children to terminate (with timeout)
+        for child in children:
+            if child.pid != parent_pid and child.is_running():
+                try:
+                    child.wait(timeout=remaining_time())
+                except TimeoutError:
+                    pass
+
+        # Send a SIGKILL to any child process that is still running
+        for child in children:
+            if child.pid != parent_pid and child.is_running():
+                try:
+                    child.kill()
+                except OSError:
+                    pass
 
     def _start_web_server(self):
         self._server_proc = Process(target=self._web_server_proc)