diff --git a/python/EventStore.py b/python/EventStore.py
deleted file mode 100644
index 5607f2da0..000000000
--- a/python/EventStore.py
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,6 +0,0 @@
-"""Legacy import wrapper for EventStore."""
-
-import warnings
-warnings.warn("You are using the legacy EventStore import. Switch to 'from podio import EventStore'", FutureWarning)
-
-from podio import EventStore  # noqa: F401 # pylint: disable=wrong-import-position, unused-import
diff --git a/python/podio/EventStore.py b/python/podio/EventStore.py
deleted file mode 100644
index d2df33cbe..000000000
--- a/python/podio/EventStore.py
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,140 +0,0 @@
-"""Python EventStore for reading files with podio generated datamodels"""
-
-import warnings
-warnings.warn("The EventStore based I/O model is deprecated and will be removed. Switch to the Frame based model.",
-              FutureWarning)
-
-from ROOT import gSystem  # pylint: disable=wrong-import-position
-gSystem.Load("libpodioPythonStore")  # noqa: E402
-from ROOT import podio  # noqa: E402 # pylint: disable=wrong-import-position
-
-
-def size(self):
-  """Override size function that can be attached as __len__ method to
-  collections"""
-  return self.size()
-
-
-def getitem(self, key):
-  """Override getitem function that can be attached as __getitem__ method to
-  collections (see below why this is necessary sometimes)"""
-  return self.at(key)
-
-
-class EventStore:
-  '''Interface to events in an podio root file.
-  Example of use:
-  events = EventStore(["example.root", "example1.root"])
-  for iev, store in islice(enumerate(events), 0, 2):
-      particles = store.get("GenParticle");
-      for i, p in islice(enumerate(particles), 0, 5):
-          print "particle ", i, p.ID(), p.P4().Pt
-  '''
-
-  def __init__(self, filenames):
-    '''Create an event list from the podio root file.
-    Parameters:
-       filenames: list of root files
-                  you can of course provide a list containing a single
-                  root file. you could use the glob module to get all
-                  files matching a wildcard pattern.
-    '''
-    if isinstance(filenames, str):
-      filenames = (filenames,)
-    self.files = filenames
-    self.stores = []
-    self.current_store = None
-    for fname in self.files:
-      store = podio.PythonEventStore(fname)
-      if store.isZombie():
-        raise ValueError(fname + ' does not exist.')
-      store.name = fname
-      if self.current_store is None:
-        self.current_store = store
-      self.stores.append((store.getEntries(), store))
-
-  def __str__(self):
-    result = "Content:"
-    for item in self.current_store.getCollectionNames():
-      result += f"\n\t{item}"
-    return result
-
-  def get(self, name):
-    '''Returns a collection.
-    Parameters:
-       name: name of the collection in the podio root file.
-    '''
-    coll = self.current_store.get(name)
-    # adding length function
-    coll.__len__ = size
-    # enabling the use of [] notation on the collection
-    # cppyy defines the __getitem__ method if the underlying c++ class has an operator[]
-    # method. For some reason they do not conform to the usual signature and only
-    # pass one argument to the function they call. Here we simply check if we have to
-    # define the __getitem__ for the collection.
-    if not hasattr(coll, '__getitem__'):
-      coll.__getitem__ = getitem
-    return coll
-
-  def collections(self):
-    """Return list of all collection names."""
-    return [str(c) for c in self.current_store.getCollectionNames()]
-
-  def metadata(self):
-    """Get the metadata of the current event as GenericParameters"""
-    return self.current_store.getEventMetaData()
-
-  def isValid(self):
-    """Check if the EventStore is in a valid state"""
-    return self.current_store is not None and self.current_store.isValid()
-
-  # def __getattr__(self, name):
-  #     '''missing attributes are taken from self.current_store'''
-  #     if name != 'current_store':
-  #         return getattr(self.current_store, name)
-  #     else:
-  #         return None
-
-  def current_filename(self):
-    '''Returns the name of the current file.'''
-    if self.current_store is None:
-      return None
-    return self.current_store.fname
-
-  def __enter__(self):
-    return self
-
-  def __exit__(self, exception_type, exception_val, trace):
-    for store in self.stores:
-      store[1].close()
-
-  def __iter__(self):
-    '''iterate on events in the tree.
-    '''
-    for _, store in self.stores:
-      self.current_store = store
-      for _ in range(store.getEntries()):
-        yield store
-        store.endOfEvent()
-
-  def __getitem__(self, evnum):
-    '''Get event number evnum'''
-    current_store = None
-    rel_evnum = evnum
-    for nev, store in self.stores:
-      if rel_evnum < nev:
-        current_store = store
-        break
-      rel_evnum -= nev
-    if current_store is None:
-      raise ValueError('event number too large: ' + str(evnum))
-    self.current_store = current_store
-    self.current_store.goToEvent(rel_evnum)
-    return self
-
-  def __len__(self):
-    '''Returns the total number of events in all files.'''
-    nevts_all_files = 0
-    for nev, _ in self.stores:
-      nevts_all_files += nev
-    return nevts_all_files
diff --git a/python/podio/test_EventStore.py b/python/podio/test_EventStore.py
deleted file mode 100644
index a8e4fb965..000000000
--- a/python/podio/test_EventStore.py
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,95 +0,0 @@
-"""Unit tests for the EventStore class"""
-
-from podio.EventStore import EventStore
-
-
-class EventStoreBaseTestCaseMixin:
-  """EventStore unit tests
-
-  These define some tests that should work regardless of the backend that is
-  used. In order to not have to duplicate this functionality for each backend,
-  this base class defines the common tests and inheriting classes define a
-  corresponding setUp method that sets up the correct EventStore and potentially
-  additional backend specific functionality
-  """
-  def test_eventloop(self):
-    self.assertTrue(len(self.store) >= 0)
-    self.assertEqual(self.store.current_store.getEntries(),
-                     len(self.store))
-    for iev, event in enumerate(self.store):
-      self.assertTrue(event is not None)
-      if iev > 5:
-        break
-
-  def test_navigation(self):
-    event0 = self.store[0]
-    self.assertEqual(event0.__class__, self.store.__class__)
-
-  def test_collections(self):
-    evinfo = self.store.get("info")
-    self.assertTrue(len(evinfo) > 0)
-    particles = self.store.get("CollectionNotThere")
-    self.assertFalse(particles)
-
-  def test_read_only(self):
-    hits = self.store.get("hits")
-    # testing that one can't modify attributes in
-    # read-only pods
-    self.assertEqual(hits[0].energy(), 23.)
-    hits[0].energy(10)
-    self.assertEqual(hits[0].energy(), 10)  # oops
-
-  def test_one_to_many(self):
-    clusters = self.store.get("clusters")
-    ref_hits = []
-    # testing that cluster hits can be accessed and make sense
-    for cluster in clusters:
-      sume = 0
-      for ihit in range(cluster.Hits_size()):
-        hit = cluster.Hits(ihit)
-        ref_hits.append(hit)
-        sume += hit.energy()
-      self.assertEqual(cluster.energy(), sume)
-    hits = self.store.get("hits")
-    # testing that the hits stored as a one to many relation
-    # in the cluster can be found in the hit collection
-    for hit in ref_hits:
-      self.assertTrue(hit in hits)
-
-  def test_relation_range(self):
-    """Test that the RelationRange functionality is also accessible in python"""
-    clusters = self.store.get("clusters")
-    hits = self.store.get("hits")
-
-    for cluster in clusters:
-      sume = 0
-      for hit in cluster.Hits():
-        self.assertTrue(hit in hits)
-        sume += hit.energy()
-      self.assertEqual(cluster.energy(), sume)
-
-  def test_hash(self):
-    clusters = self.store.get("clusters")
-    ref_hits = []
-    # testing that cluster hits can be accessed and make sense
-    for cluster in clusters:
-      sume = 0
-      for ihit in range(cluster.Hits_size()):
-        hit = cluster.Hits(ihit)
-        ref_hits.append(hit)
-        sume += hit.energy()
-      self.assertEqual(cluster.energy(), sume)
-    hits = self.store.get("hits")
-    if hits[0] == ref_hits[0]:
-      self.assertEqual(hits[0].getObjectID().index,
-                       ref_hits[0].getObjectID().index)
-      self.assertEqual(hits[0].getObjectID().collectionID,
-                       ref_hits[0].getObjectID().collectionID)
-      self.assertEqual(hits[0].getObjectID(), ref_hits[0].getObjectID())
-    # testing that the hits stored as a one to many relation
-    # import pdb; pdb.set_trace()
-
-  def test_context_managers(self):
-    with EventStore([self.filename]) as store:
-      self.assertTrue(len(store) >= 0)
-      self.assertTrue(store.isValid())
diff --git a/python/podio/test_EventStoreRoot.py b/python/podio/test_EventStoreRoot.py
deleted file mode 100644
index b9f3830dd..000000000
--- a/python/podio/test_EventStoreRoot.py
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,50 +0,0 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env python3
-"""Python unit tests for the ROOT backend"""
-
-import unittest
-import os
-
-from ROOT import TFile
-
-from podio.EventStore import EventStore
-from podio.test_EventStore import EventStoreBaseTestCaseMixin
-
-
-class EventStoreRootTestCase(EventStoreBaseTestCaseMixin, unittest.TestCase):
-  """Test cases for root input files"""
-  def setUp(self):
-    """Setup an EventStore reading from a ROOT file"""
-    self.filename = 'root_io/example.root'
-    self.assertTrue(os.path.isfile(self.filename))
-    self.store = EventStore([self.filename])
-
-  def test_chain(self):
-    self.store = EventStore([self.filename,
-                             self.filename])
-    rootfile = TFile(self.filename)
-    events = rootfile.Get(str('events'))
-    numbers = []
-    for iev, _ in enumerate(self.store):
-      evinfo = self.store.get("info")
-      numbers.append(evinfo[0].Number())
-    self.assertEqual(iev + 1, 2 * events.GetEntries())  # pylint: disable=undefined-loop-variable
-    # testing that numbers is [0, .. 1999, 0, .. 1999]
-    self.assertEqual(numbers, list(range(events.GetEntries())) * 2)
-    # trying to go to an event beyond the last one
-    self.assertRaises(ValueError, self.store.__getitem__, 4001)
-    # this is in the first event in the second file,
-    # so its event number should be 0.
-    self.assertEqual(self.store[2000].get("info")[0].Number(), 0)
-
-  def test_no_file(self):
-    '''Test that non-accessible files are gracefully handled.'''
-    with self.assertRaises(ValueError):
-      self.store = EventStore('foo.root')
-
-
-if __name__ == '__main__':
-  # NOTE: These tests are really not intended to be run directly as they depend
-  # on quite some environment setup as well as externally produced inputs.
-  # See the CMakeLists.txt file in the tests folder for the specifics of that
-  # environment and the inputs
-  unittest.main()
diff --git a/python/podio/test_EventStoreSio.py b/python/podio/test_EventStoreSio.py
deleted file mode 100644
index 511da07d8..000000000
--- a/python/podio/test_EventStoreSio.py
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,32 +0,0 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env python3
-"""Python unit tests for the SIO backend"""
-
-import unittest
-import os
-
-from podio.EventStore import EventStore
-from podio.test_EventStore import EventStoreBaseTestCaseMixin
-from podio.test_utils import SKIP_SIO_TESTS
-
-
-@unittest.skipIf(SKIP_SIO_TESTS, "no SIO support")
-class EventStoreSioTestCase(EventStoreBaseTestCaseMixin, unittest.TestCase):
-  """Test cases for root input files"""
-  def setUp(self):
-    """setup an EventStore reading an SIO file"""
-    self.filename = 'sio_io/example.sio'
-    self.assertTrue(os.path.isfile(self.filename))
-    self.store = EventStore([self.filename])
-
-  def test_no_file(self):
-    '''Test that non-accessible files are gracefully handled.'''
-    with self.assertRaises(ValueError):
-      self.store = EventStore('foo.sio')
-
-
-if __name__ == '__main__':
-  # NOTE: These tests are really not intended to be run directly as they depend
-  # on quite some environment setup as well as externally produced inputs.
-  # See the CMakeLists.txt file in the tests folder for the specifics of that
-  # environment and the inputs
-  unittest.main()