diff --git a/lib/galaxy/web/base/controllers/admin.py b/lib/galaxy/web/base/controllers/admin.py
index a2a7573c66b..9673da67474 100644
--- a/lib/galaxy/web/base/controllers/admin.py
+++ b/lib/galaxy/web/base/controllers/admin.py
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ from galaxy.util import inflector
 from galaxy.web.form_builder import CheckboxField
 from string import punctuation as PUNCTUATION
 import galaxy.queue_worker
-from markupsafe import escape
+from tool_shed.util.web_util import escape
 
 from tool_shed.util import shed_util_common as suc
 
diff --git a/lib/galaxy/webapps/galaxy/controllers/admin.py b/lib/galaxy/webapps/galaxy/controllers/admin.py
index 15221c3392d..459b64717da 100644
--- a/lib/galaxy/webapps/galaxy/controllers/admin.py
+++ b/lib/galaxy/webapps/galaxy/controllers/admin.py
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ from galaxy.web.framework.helpers import grids, time_ago
 from galaxy.web.params import QuotaParamParser
 from tool_shed.util import common_util
 from tool_shed.util import encoding_util
-from markupsafe import escape
+from tool_shed.util.web_util import escape
 
 log = logging.getLogger( __name__ )
 
diff --git a/lib/galaxy/webapps/galaxy/controllers/admin_toolshed.py b/lib/galaxy/webapps/galaxy/controllers/admin_toolshed.py
index 361ecc6ffa0..b31177fabd6 100644
--- a/lib/galaxy/webapps/galaxy/controllers/admin_toolshed.py
+++ b/lib/galaxy/webapps/galaxy/controllers/admin_toolshed.py
@@ -8,9 +8,9 @@ from galaxy import util
 from galaxy.web.form_builder import CheckboxField
 from galaxy.util import json
 from galaxy.model.orm import or_
-from markupsafe import escape
 
 import tool_shed.repository_types.util as rt_util
+from tool_shed.util.web_util import escape
 
 from tool_shed.util import common_util
 from tool_shed.util import encoding_util
diff --git a/lib/galaxy/webapps/tool_shed/controllers/admin.py b/lib/galaxy/webapps/tool_shed/controllers/admin.py
index 73a314788fc..27c6c922337 100644
--- a/lib/galaxy/webapps/tool_shed/controllers/admin.py
+++ b/lib/galaxy/webapps/tool_shed/controllers/admin.py
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ import logging
 from galaxy import util
 from galaxy.util import inflector
 from galaxy import web
-from markupsafe import escape
+from tool_shed.util.web_util import escape
 
 from galaxy.web.base.controller import BaseUIController
 from galaxy.web.base.controllers.admin import Admin
diff --git a/lib/galaxy/webapps/tool_shed/controllers/repository.py b/lib/galaxy/webapps/tool_shed/controllers/repository.py
index 9d130f653be..9d8bc5ab660 100644
--- a/lib/galaxy/webapps/tool_shed/controllers/repository.py
+++ b/lib/galaxy/webapps/tool_shed/controllers/repository.py
@@ -6,7 +6,6 @@ from time import gmtime
 from time import strftime
 from datetime import date
 from datetime import datetime
-from markupsafe import escape
 
 from galaxy import util
 from galaxy import web
@@ -19,6 +18,7 @@ from galaxy.model.orm import and_
 from tool_shed.capsule import capsule_manager
 from tool_shed.dependencies.repository import relation_builder
 
+from tool_shed.util.web_util import escape
 from tool_shed.galaxy_install import dependency_display
 from tool_shed.metadata import repository_metadata_manager
 from tool_shed.utility_containers import ToolShedUtilityContainerManager
diff --git a/lib/galaxy/webapps/tool_shed/controllers/repository_review.py b/lib/galaxy/webapps/tool_shed/controllers/repository_review.py
index 69e11819e9c..d6bf5278ad6 100644
--- a/lib/galaxy/webapps/tool_shed/controllers/repository_review.py
+++ b/lib/galaxy/webapps/tool_shed/controllers/repository_review.py
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ import logging
 import os
 
 from sqlalchemy.sql.expression import func
-from markupsafe import escape
+from tool_shed.util.web_util import escape
 
 from galaxy import util
 from galaxy import web
diff --git a/lib/galaxy/webapps/tool_shed/controllers/upload.py b/lib/galaxy/webapps/tool_shed/controllers/upload.py
index 5889c2fd9f9..338ef08c98d 100644
--- a/lib/galaxy/webapps/tool_shed/controllers/upload.py
+++ b/lib/galaxy/webapps/tool_shed/controllers/upload.py
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ from galaxy import util
 from galaxy import web
 from galaxy.datatypes import checkers
 from galaxy.web.base.controller import BaseUIController
-from markupsafe import escape
+from tool_shed.util.web_util import escape
 
 from tool_shed.dependencies import attribute_handlers
 from tool_shed.galaxy_install import dependency_display
diff --git a/lib/tool_shed/util/repository_util.py b/lib/tool_shed/util/repository_util.py
index 8ee97941840..b54bf0b6ec3 100644
--- a/lib/tool_shed/util/repository_util.py
+++ b/lib/tool_shed/util/repository_util.py
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ from galaxy import util
 from galaxy import web
 from galaxy.web.form_builder import build_select_field
 from galaxy.webapps.tool_shed.model import directory_hash_id
-from markupsafe import escape
+from tool_shed.util.web_util import escape
 
 from tool_shed.dependencies.repository import relation_builder
 
diff --git a/lib/tool_shed/util/web_util.py b/lib/tool_shed/util/web_util.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..c75f3747ff3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/tool_shed/util/web_util.py
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+from markupsafe import escape as raw_escape
+
+ALLOWED_ELEMENTS = ["<b>", "</b>", "<br/>"]
+ALLOWED_MAP = dict(map(lambda x: (x, raw_escape(x)), ALLOWED_ELEMENTS))
+
+
+def escape( value ):
+    """ A tool shed variant of markupsafe.escape that allows a select few
+    HTML elements that are repeatedly used in messages created deep
+    in the toolshed components. Ideally abstract things would be produced
+    in these components and messages in the views or client side - this is
+    what should be worked toward - but for now - we have this hack.
+
+    >>> escape("A <b>repo</b>")
+    u'A <b>repo</b>'
+    """
+    escaped = str( raw_escape( value ) )
+    # Unescape few selected tags.
+    for key, value in ALLOWED_MAP.iteritems():
+        escaped = escaped.replace(value, key)
+    return escaped