diff --git a/src/main/java/org/littleshoot/proxy/BadGatewayFailureHttpResponseComposer.java b/src/main/java/org/littleshoot/proxy/DefaultFailureHttpResponseComposer.java
similarity index 81%
rename from src/main/java/org/littleshoot/proxy/BadGatewayFailureHttpResponseComposer.java
rename to src/main/java/org/littleshoot/proxy/DefaultFailureHttpResponseComposer.java
index f115332cb..15b8c2572 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/littleshoot/proxy/BadGatewayFailureHttpResponseComposer.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/littleshoot/proxy/DefaultFailureHttpResponseComposer.java
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
 import io.netty.handler.codec.http.HttpVersion;
 import org.littleshoot.proxy.impl.ProxyUtils;
 
-public class BadGatewayFailureHttpResponseComposer implements FailureHttpResponseComposer {
+public class DefaultFailureHttpResponseComposer implements FailureHttpResponseComposer {
 
   /**
    * Tells the client that something went wrong trying to proxy its request. If the Bad Gateway is a response to
@@ -20,8 +20,9 @@ public class BadGatewayFailureHttpResponseComposer implements FailureHttpRespons
   @Override
   public FullHttpResponse compose(HttpRequest httpRequest, Throwable cause) {
     String body = provideCustomMessage(httpRequest, cause);
+    HttpResponseStatus status = provideCustomStatus(httpRequest, cause);
 
-    FullHttpResponse response = ProxyUtils.createFullHttpResponse(HttpVersion.HTTP_1_1, HttpResponseStatus.BAD_GATEWAY, body);
+    FullHttpResponse response = ProxyUtils.createFullHttpResponse(HttpVersion.HTTP_1_1, status, body);
 
     if (ProxyUtils.isHEAD(httpRequest)) {
       // don't allow any body content in response to a HEAD request
@@ -39,4 +40,8 @@ public FullHttpResponse compose(HttpRequest httpRequest, Throwable cause) {
   protected String provideCustomMessage(HttpRequest httpRequest, Throwable cause) {
     return "Bad Gateway: " + httpRequest.getUri();
   }
+
+  protected HttpResponseStatus provideCustomStatus(HttpRequest httpRequest, Throwable cause) {
+    return HttpResponseStatus.BAD_GATEWAY;
+  }
 }
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/littleshoot/proxy/HttpProxyServerBootstrap.java b/src/main/java/org/littleshoot/proxy/HttpProxyServerBootstrap.java
index 7eb838673..3b5d82031 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/littleshoot/proxy/HttpProxyServerBootstrap.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/littleshoot/proxy/HttpProxyServerBootstrap.java
@@ -234,7 +234,7 @@ HttpProxyServerBootstrap withFiltersSource(
      * </p>
      *
      * <p>
-     * Default = {@link BadGatewayFailureHttpResponseComposer}
+     * Default = {@link DefaultFailureHttpResponseComposer}
      * </p>
      *
      * @param unrecoverableFailureHttpResponseComposer custom response message composer
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/littleshoot/proxy/impl/ClientToProxyConnection.java b/src/main/java/org/littleshoot/proxy/impl/ClientToProxyConnection.java
index afef50a11..dca696d4b 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/littleshoot/proxy/impl/ClientToProxyConnection.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/littleshoot/proxy/impl/ClientToProxyConnection.java
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@
 import io.netty.util.concurrent.GenericFutureListener;
 import org.apache.commons.lang3.StringUtils;
 import org.littleshoot.proxy.ActivityTracker;
-import org.littleshoot.proxy.BadGatewayFailureHttpResponseComposer;
+import org.littleshoot.proxy.DefaultFailureHttpResponseComposer;
 import org.littleshoot.proxy.ExceptionHandler;
 import org.littleshoot.proxy.FailureHttpResponseComposer;
 import org.littleshoot.proxy.FlowContext;
@@ -1215,7 +1215,7 @@ private void stripHopByHopHeaders(HttpHeaders headers) {
      * @return true if the connection will be kept open, or false if it will be disconnected
      */
     private boolean writeBadGateway(HttpRequest httpRequest) {
-        FullHttpResponse badGatewayResponse = new BadGatewayFailureHttpResponseComposer().compose(httpRequest, null);
+        FullHttpResponse badGatewayResponse = new DefaultFailureHttpResponseComposer().compose(httpRequest, null);
         return respondWithShortCircuitResponse(badGatewayResponse);
     }
 
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/littleshoot/proxy/impl/DefaultHttpProxyServer.java b/src/main/java/org/littleshoot/proxy/impl/DefaultHttpProxyServer.java
index 91a2b710e..e42457213 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/littleshoot/proxy/impl/DefaultHttpProxyServer.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/littleshoot/proxy/impl/DefaultHttpProxyServer.java
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@
 import io.netty.handler.traffic.GlobalTrafficShapingHandler;
 import io.netty.util.concurrent.GlobalEventExecutor;
 import org.littleshoot.proxy.ActivityTracker;
-import org.littleshoot.proxy.BadGatewayFailureHttpResponseComposer;
+import org.littleshoot.proxy.DefaultFailureHttpResponseComposer;
 import org.littleshoot.proxy.ChainedProxyManager;
 import org.littleshoot.proxy.DefaultHostResolver;
 import org.littleshoot.proxy.DnsSecServerResolver;
@@ -641,7 +641,7 @@ private static class DefaultHttpProxyServerBootstrap implements HttpProxyServerB
         private ExceptionHandler clientToProxyExHandler = null;
         private ExceptionHandler proxyToServerExHandler = null;
         private HttpFiltersSource filtersSource = new HttpFiltersSourceAdapter();
-        private FailureHttpResponseComposer unrecoverableFailureHttpResponseComposer = new BadGatewayFailureHttpResponseComposer();
+        private FailureHttpResponseComposer unrecoverableFailureHttpResponseComposer = new DefaultFailureHttpResponseComposer();
         private boolean transparent = false;
         private int idleConnectionTimeout = 70;
         private Collection<ActivityTracker> activityTrackers = new ConcurrentLinkedQueue<ActivityTracker>();
diff --git a/src/test/java/org/littleshoot/proxy/BadGatewayFailureHttpResponseComposerTest.java b/src/test/java/org/littleshoot/proxy/DefaultFailureHttpResponseComposerTest.java
similarity index 78%
rename from src/test/java/org/littleshoot/proxy/BadGatewayFailureHttpResponseComposerTest.java
rename to src/test/java/org/littleshoot/proxy/DefaultFailureHttpResponseComposerTest.java
index 8a7333e0c..1c8466c14 100644
--- a/src/test/java/org/littleshoot/proxy/BadGatewayFailureHttpResponseComposerTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/org/littleshoot/proxy/DefaultFailureHttpResponseComposerTest.java
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 import io.netty.handler.codec.http.FullHttpResponse;
 import io.netty.handler.codec.http.HttpMethod;
 import io.netty.handler.codec.http.HttpRequest;
+import io.netty.handler.codec.http.HttpResponseStatus;
 import org.junit.Test;
 
 import java.io.IOException;
@@ -10,13 +11,13 @@
 import static org.junit.Assert.*;
 import static org.mockito.Mockito.*;
 
-public class BadGatewayFailureHttpResponseComposerTest {
+public class DefaultFailureHttpResponseComposerTest {
 
   private static final String REQUEST_URI = "https://localhost/hi";
 
   @Test
   public void testDefault() throws IOException {
-    FailureHttpResponseComposer badGatewayResponseComposer = new BadGatewayFailureHttpResponseComposer();
+    FailureHttpResponseComposer badGatewayResponseComposer = new DefaultFailureHttpResponseComposer();
 
     HttpRequest initialRequest = mock(HttpRequest.class);
     when(initialRequest.getUri()).thenReturn(REQUEST_URI);
@@ -29,12 +30,17 @@ public void testDefault() throws IOException {
   }
 
   @Test
-  public void testCustomMessage() throws IOException {
-    FailureHttpResponseComposer badGatewayResponseComposer = new BadGatewayFailureHttpResponseComposer() {
+  public void testCustomMessageAndStatus() throws IOException {
+    FailureHttpResponseComposer badGatewayResponseComposer = new DefaultFailureHttpResponseComposer() {
       @Override
       protected String provideCustomMessage(HttpRequest httpRequest, Throwable cause) {
         return "Invalid certificate: " + httpRequest.getUri();
       }
+
+      @Override
+      protected HttpResponseStatus provideCustomStatus(HttpRequest httpRequest, Throwable cause) {
+        return new HttpResponseStatus(HttpResponseStatus.INTERNAL_SERVER_ERROR.code(), "Something is wrong");
+      }
     };
 
     HttpRequest initialRequest = mock(HttpRequest.class);
@@ -42,14 +48,14 @@ protected String provideCustomMessage(HttpRequest httpRequest, Throwable cause)
 
     FullHttpResponse response = badGatewayResponseComposer.compose(initialRequest, new RuntimeException());
 
-    assertEquals(502, response.getStatus().code());
-    assertEquals("Bad Gateway", response.getStatus().reasonPhrase());
+    assertEquals(500, response.getStatus().code());
+    assertEquals("Something is wrong", response.getStatus().reasonPhrase());
     assertEquals("Invalid certificate: " + REQUEST_URI, new String(response.content().array()));
   }
 
   @Test
   public void testClearedContent() throws IOException {
-    FailureHttpResponseComposer badGatewayResponseComposer = new BadGatewayFailureHttpResponseComposer();
+    FailureHttpResponseComposer badGatewayResponseComposer = new DefaultFailureHttpResponseComposer();
 
     HttpRequest initialRequest = mock(HttpRequest.class);
     when(initialRequest.getUri()).thenReturn(REQUEST_URI);
diff --git a/src/test/java/org/littleshoot/proxy/impl/DefaultHttpProxyServerTest.java b/src/test/java/org/littleshoot/proxy/impl/DefaultHttpProxyServerTest.java
index eb370fc51..ba3148d26 100644
--- a/src/test/java/org/littleshoot/proxy/impl/DefaultHttpProxyServerTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/org/littleshoot/proxy/impl/DefaultHttpProxyServerTest.java
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 import io.netty.handler.codec.http.FullHttpResponse;
 import io.netty.handler.codec.http.HttpRequest;
 import org.junit.Test;
-import org.littleshoot.proxy.BadGatewayFailureHttpResponseComposer;
+import org.littleshoot.proxy.DefaultFailureHttpResponseComposer;
 import org.littleshoot.proxy.FailureHttpResponseComposer;
 
 import static org.junit.Assert.assertTrue;
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ public class DefaultHttpProxyServerTest {
   @Test
   public void testDefaultUnrecoverableFailureHttpResponseComposer() {
     DefaultHttpProxyServer httpProxyServer = (DefaultHttpProxyServer) DefaultHttpProxyServer.bootstrap().start();
-    assertTrue(httpProxyServer.getUnrecoverableFailureHttpResponseComposer() instanceof BadGatewayFailureHttpResponseComposer);
+    assertTrue(httpProxyServer.getUnrecoverableFailureHttpResponseComposer() instanceof DefaultFailureHttpResponseComposer);
     httpProxyServer.stop();
   }