diff --git a/Code/Mantid/Framework/PythonInterface/mantid/geometry/src/Exports/IMDDimension.cpp b/Code/Mantid/Framework/PythonInterface/mantid/geometry/src/Exports/IMDDimension.cpp
index 344412f4b38f..53d53027bb19 100644
--- a/Code/Mantid/Framework/PythonInterface/mantid/geometry/src/Exports/IMDDimension.cpp
+++ b/Code/Mantid/Framework/PythonInterface/mantid/geometry/src/Exports/IMDDimension.cpp
@@ -8,6 +8,18 @@ using Mantid::Geometry::IMDDimension;
 using Mantid::Geometry::IMDDimension_sptr;
 using namespace boost::python;
 
+namespace
+{
+  /**
+   * @param self A reference to the calling object
+   * @return A plain-text string giving the units
+   */
+  std::string getUnitsAsStr(IMDDimension & self)
+  {
+    return self.getUnits().ascii();
+  }
+}
+
 void export_IMDDimension()
 {
   register_ptr_to_python<boost::shared_ptr<IMDDimension>>();
@@ -21,7 +33,7 @@ void export_IMDDimension()
       .def("getX", &IMDDimension::getX, "Return coordinate of the axis at the given index")
       .def("getDimensionId", &IMDDimension::getDimensionId, "Return a short name which identify the dimension among other dimension."
            "A dimension can be usually find by its ID and various  ")
-      .def("getUnits",  &IMDDimension::getUnits, "Return the units associated with this dimension.")
+      .def("getUnits",  &getUnitsAsStr, "Return the units associated with this dimension.")
       ;
 }
 
diff --git a/Code/Mantid/Framework/PythonInterface/mantid/kernel/src/Exports/Unit.cpp b/Code/Mantid/Framework/PythonInterface/mantid/kernel/src/Exports/Unit.cpp
index e11a33d62ef0..479d4a2b295e 100644
--- a/Code/Mantid/Framework/PythonInterface/mantid/kernel/src/Exports/Unit.cpp
+++ b/Code/Mantid/Framework/PythonInterface/mantid/kernel/src/Exports/Unit.cpp
@@ -19,6 +19,16 @@ namespace
     return self.caption();
   }
 
+  /**
+   * Returns the label of the unit as a std::string & raises a deprecation warning
+   * @param self A reference to calling object
+   */
+  const std::string deprecatedLabel(Unit & self)
+  {
+    PyErr_Warn(PyExc_DeprecationWarning, "'unit.label()' is deprecated, use 'str(unit.symbol())' instead.");
+    return self.label().ascii();
+  }
+
 }
 
 void export_Unit()
@@ -28,7 +38,8 @@ void export_Unit()
   class_<Unit,boost::noncopyable>("Unit", no_init)
     .def("name", &deprecatedName, "Return the full name of the unit (deprecated, use caption)")
     .def("caption", &Unit::caption, "Return the full name of the unit")
-    .def("label", &Unit::label, "Returns a label to be printed on the axis")
+    .def("label", &deprecatedLabel, "Returns a plain-text label to be used as the symbol for the unit (deprecated, use symbol())")
+    .def("symbol", &Unit::label, "Returns a UnitLabel object that holds information on the symbol to use for unit")
     .def("unitID", &Unit::unitID, "Returns the string ID of the unit. This may/may not match its name")
   ;
 
diff --git a/Code/Mantid/Framework/PythonInterface/test/python/mantid/api/MatrixWorkspaceTest.py b/Code/Mantid/Framework/PythonInterface/test/python/mantid/api/MatrixWorkspaceTest.py
index d9c0bd26b86d..6f889ed09fcc 100644
--- a/Code/Mantid/Framework/PythonInterface/test/python/mantid/api/MatrixWorkspaceTest.py
+++ b/Code/Mantid/Framework/PythonInterface/test/python/mantid/api/MatrixWorkspaceTest.py
@@ -58,9 +58,9 @@ def test_axes(self):
         self.assertEquals(xunit.unitID(), "TOF")
 
         yunit = yaxis.getUnit()
-        self.assertEquals(yunit.caption(), "")
+        self.assertEquals(yunit.caption(), "Spectrum")
         self.assertEquals(yunit.label(), "")
-        self.assertEquals(yunit.unitID(), "Empty")
+        self.assertEquals(yunit.unitID(), "Label")
 
         
     def test_detector_retrieval(self):
diff --git a/Code/Mantid/Framework/PythonInterface/test/python/mantid/kernel/UnitLabelTest.py b/Code/Mantid/Framework/PythonInterface/test/python/mantid/kernel/UnitLabelTest.py
index 7087ad223128..11e4b806ed80 100644
--- a/Code/Mantid/Framework/PythonInterface/test/python/mantid/kernel/UnitLabelTest.py
+++ b/Code/Mantid/Framework/PythonInterface/test/python/mantid/kernel/UnitLabelTest.py
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ def test_UnitLabel_can_be_built_simple_string_and_unicode_object(self):
 
     def test_utf8_is_converted_to_unicode_object(self):
         tof = UnitFactory.Instance().create("TOF")
-        unit_lbl = tof.label()
+        unit_lbl = tof.symbol()
         self.assertTrue(isinstance(unit_lbl.utf8(), types.UnicodeType))
         self.assertEquals(u"\u03bcs", unit_lbl.utf8())
 
diff --git a/Code/Mantid/Framework/PythonInterface/test/python/mantid/kernel/UnitsTest.py b/Code/Mantid/Framework/PythonInterface/test/python/mantid/kernel/UnitsTest.py
index 906bb190f05c..3f18b9eb6bbf 100644
--- a/Code/Mantid/Framework/PythonInterface/test/python/mantid/kernel/UnitsTest.py
+++ b/Code/Mantid/Framework/PythonInterface/test/python/mantid/kernel/UnitsTest.py
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 import unittest
-from mantid.kernel import UnitFactory, Unit, Label
+from mantid.kernel import UnitFactory, Unit, Label, UnitLabel
 import types
 
 class UnitsTest(unittest.TestCase):
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ def test_Label_is_returned_from_Factory(self):
         label_unit.setLabel("Temperature", "K")
         self.assertEquals("Temperature", label_unit.caption())
         self.assertEquals("K", label_unit.label())
+        self.assertTrue(isinstance(label_unit.symbol(), UnitLabel))
 
 if __name__ == '__main__':
     unittest.main()