diff --git a/tests/set-up.pl b/tests/set-up.pl
index d7aa35cc..4fb99a49 100644
--- a/tests/set-up.pl
+++ b/tests/set-up.pl
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 use strict;
-system("initdb -D postgres") == 0 or die;
-system("pg_ctl -D postgres -o \"-F -p 6433 -h '' -k /tmp \" -w start") == 0 or die;
-system("createdb -p 6433 hydra-test-suite") == 0 or die;
+system("initdb -D postgres --locale C.UTF-8 ") == 0 or die;
+system("pg_ctl -D postgres -o \"-F -p 6433  -h '' -k /tmp \" -w start") == 0 or die;
+system("createdb -l C.UTF-8 -p 6433 hydra-test-suite") == 0 or die;
 system("hydra-init") == 0 or die;