diff --git a/cmd/geth/main.go b/cmd/geth/main.go
index d48bfdd42f..b4c622ce2e 100644
--- a/cmd/geth/main.go
+++ b/cmd/geth/main.go
@@ -102,6 +102,7 @@ var (
 		utils.UltraLightServersFlag,
 		utils.UltraLightFractionFlag,
 		utils.UltraLightOnlyAnnounceFlag,
+		utils.LightNoSyncServeFlag,
 		utils.WhitelistFlag,
 		utils.BloomFilterSizeFlag,
 		utils.CacheFlag,
diff --git a/cmd/geth/usage.go b/cmd/geth/usage.go
index cae388c1d3..24215f55a8 100644
--- a/cmd/geth/usage.go
+++ b/cmd/geth/usage.go
@@ -68,6 +68,7 @@ var AppHelpFlagGroups = []flags.FlagGroup{
 			utils.UltraLightFractionFlag,
 			utils.UltraLightOnlyAnnounceFlag,
 			utils.LightNoPruneFlag,
+			utils.LightNoSyncServeFlag,
 		},
 	},
 	{
diff --git a/cmd/utils/flags.go b/cmd/utils/flags.go
index 817041c589..9fff183a14 100644
--- a/cmd/utils/flags.go
+++ b/cmd/utils/flags.go
@@ -269,6 +269,10 @@ var (
 		Name:  "light.nopruning",
 		Usage: "Disable ancient light chain data pruning",
 	}
+	LightNoSyncServeFlag = cli.BoolFlag{
+		Name:  "light.nosyncserve",
+		Usage: "Enables serving light clients before syncing",
+	}
 	// Ethash settings
 	EthashCacheDirFlag = DirectoryFlag{
 		Name:  "ethash.cachedir",
@@ -1042,6 +1046,9 @@ func setLes(ctx *cli.Context, cfg *ethconfig.Config) {
 	if ctx.GlobalIsSet(LightNoPruneFlag.Name) {
 		cfg.LightNoPrune = ctx.GlobalBool(LightNoPruneFlag.Name)
 	}
+	if ctx.GlobalIsSet(LightNoSyncServeFlag.Name) {
+		cfg.LightNoSyncServe = ctx.GlobalBool(LightNoSyncServeFlag.Name)
+	}
 }
 
 // MakeDatabaseHandles raises out the number of allowed file handles per process
diff --git a/eth/ethconfig/config.go b/eth/ethconfig/config.go
index e192e4d333..841dc5e9e1 100644
--- a/eth/ethconfig/config.go
+++ b/eth/ethconfig/config.go
@@ -140,6 +140,7 @@ type Config struct {
 	LightEgress        int  `toml:",omitempty"` // Outgoing bandwidth limit for light servers
 	LightPeers         int  `toml:",omitempty"` // Maximum number of LES client peers
 	LightNoPrune       bool `toml:",omitempty"` // Whether to disable light chain pruning
+	LightNoSyncServe   bool `toml:",omitempty"` // Whether to serve light clients before syncing
 	SyncFromCheckpoint bool `toml:",omitempty"` // Whether to sync the header chain from the configured checkpoint
 
 	// Ultra Light client options
diff --git a/eth/ethconfig/gen_config.go b/eth/ethconfig/gen_config.go
index 5814b81b09..ca93b2ad00 100644
--- a/eth/ethconfig/gen_config.go
+++ b/eth/ethconfig/gen_config.go
@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@ func (c Config) MarshalTOML() (interface{}, error) {
 		LightEgress             int                    `toml:",omitempty"`
 		LightPeers              int                    `toml:",omitempty"`
 		LightNoPrune            bool                   `toml:",omitempty"`
+		LightNoSyncServe        bool                   `toml:",omitempty"`
 		SyncFromCheckpoint      bool                   `toml:",omitempty"`
 		UltraLightServers       []string               `toml:",omitempty"`
 		UltraLightFraction      int                    `toml:",omitempty"`
@@ -74,6 +75,7 @@ func (c Config) MarshalTOML() (interface{}, error) {
 	enc.LightEgress = c.LightEgress
 	enc.LightPeers = c.LightPeers
 	enc.LightNoPrune = c.LightNoPrune
+	enc.LightNoSyncServe = c.LightNoSyncServe
 	enc.SyncFromCheckpoint = c.SyncFromCheckpoint
 	enc.UltraLightServers = c.UltraLightServers
 	enc.UltraLightFraction = c.UltraLightFraction
@@ -121,6 +123,7 @@ func (c *Config) UnmarshalTOML(unmarshal func(interface{}) error) error {
 		LightEgress             *int                   `toml:",omitempty"`
 		LightPeers              *int                   `toml:",omitempty"`
 		LightNoPrune            *bool                  `toml:",omitempty"`
+		LightNoSyncServe        *bool                  `toml:",omitempty"`
 		SyncFromCheckpoint      *bool                  `toml:",omitempty"`
 		UltraLightServers       []string               `toml:",omitempty"`
 		UltraLightFraction      *int                   `toml:",omitempty"`
@@ -195,6 +198,9 @@ func (c *Config) UnmarshalTOML(unmarshal func(interface{}) error) error {
 	if dec.LightNoPrune != nil {
 		c.LightNoPrune = *dec.LightNoPrune
 	}
+	if dec.LightNoSyncServe != nil {
+		c.LightNoSyncServe = *dec.LightNoSyncServe
+	}
 	if dec.SyncFromCheckpoint != nil {
 		c.SyncFromCheckpoint = *dec.SyncFromCheckpoint
 	}
diff --git a/les/server.go b/les/server.go
index e34647f290..359784cf7d 100644
--- a/les/server.go
+++ b/les/server.go
@@ -118,7 +118,11 @@ func NewLesServer(node *node.Node, e ethBackend, config *ethconfig.Config) (*Les
 		threadsIdle:  threads,
 		p2pSrv:       node.Server(),
 	}
-	srv.handler = newServerHandler(srv, e.BlockChain(), e.ChainDb(), e.TxPool(), e.Synced)
+	issync := e.Synced
+	if config.LightNoSyncServe {
+		issync = func() bool { return true }
+	}
+	srv.handler = newServerHandler(srv, e.BlockChain(), e.ChainDb(), e.TxPool(), issync)
 	srv.costTracker, srv.minCapacity = newCostTracker(e.ChainDb(), config)
 	srv.oracle = srv.setupOracle(node, e.BlockChain().Genesis().Hash(), config)