diff --git a/changelogs/unreleased/jv-pack-pool-refs.yml b/changelogs/unreleased/jv-pack-pool-refs.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..c4d4258b230f8420f32545220d4aa944e3ef3391
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelogs/unreleased/jv-pack-pool-refs.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+title: 'FetchIntoObjectPool: pack refs after fetch'
+merge_request: 1464
+author:
+type: performance
diff --git a/internal/git/objectpool/fetch.go b/internal/git/objectpool/fetch.go
index 710392b43fd6824bcfa9df05b36332d6a0f706b2..a5240fbfd616144448014f14b6577b4ea3dd5c21 100644
--- a/internal/git/objectpool/fetch.go
+++ b/internal/git/objectpool/fetch.go
@@ -79,6 +79,14 @@ func (o *ObjectPool) FetchFromOrigin(ctx context.Context, origin *gitalypb.Repos
 		return err
 	}
 
+	packRefs, err := git.Command(ctx, o, "pack-refs", "--all")
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	if err := packRefs.Wait(); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+
 	return repackPool(ctx, o)
 }
 
diff --git a/internal/git/objectpool/fetch_test.go b/internal/git/objectpool/fetch_test.go
index 6b4e94463d0b56d84332e285e8e838f01fd4dace..674f093759dfbd9c2a3eef8eec17374330513985 100644
--- a/internal/git/objectpool/fetch_test.go
+++ b/internal/git/objectpool/fetch_test.go
@@ -182,6 +182,10 @@ func TestFetchFromOriginRefUpdates(t *testing.T) {
 	for ref, oid := range newRefs {
 		require.Equal(t, oid, resolveRef(t, poolPath, "refs/remotes/origin/"+ref), "look up %q in pool after update", ref)
 	}
+
+	looseRefs := testhelper.MustRunCommand(t, nil, "find", filepath.Join(poolPath, "refs"), "-type", "f")
+	require.Equal(t, "", string(looseRefs), "there should be no loose refs after the fetch")
+
 }
 
 func resolveRef(t *testing.T, repo string, ref string) string {