diff --git a/recipes/lrb_payed.recipe b/recipes/lrb_payed.recipe
index 85ed5221b2..e0396c98d2 100644
--- a/recipes/lrb_payed.recipe
+++ b/recipes/lrb_payed.recipe
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ class LondonReviewOfBooksPayed(BasicNewsRecipe):
             br['username'] = self.username
             br['password'] = self.password
             raw = br.submit().read()
-            if 'You are logged in as' not in raw:
+            if b'You are logged in as' not in raw:
                 raise ValueError('Failed to log in, check username and password')
         return br
 
@@ -45,7 +45,7 @@ class LondonReviewOfBooksPayed(BasicNewsRecipe):
         soup = self.index_to_soup(self.INDEX)
         cover_item = soup.find('p', attrs={'class': 'cover'})
         dates = type(u'')(soup.find('span', attrs={'class': 'coverdate'}))
-        newdates = re.sub(r'\<.*\>', '', re.split('<br />', dates)[1])
+        newdates = re.sub(r'\<.*\>', '', re.split(r'<br\s*/>', dates)[1])
         self.timefmt = ' [%s]' % newdates
         lrbtitle = self.title
         if cover_item: