A Highlands institution: Polly’s Pies lists after nearly four decades
An iconic Southern Highlands bakery with nearly four decades of trade is on the market, offering a turnkey hospitality opportunity in the heart of Moss Vale.
The freehold at 472 Argyle Street – home to Polly’s Pies and Pastries – is being offered with a $1.2 million to $1.3 million price guide, underpinned by a long-standing local following and prominent main street position.
Co-owner Robyn Pollard, 69, says the business, which she runs with her husband Brian, 72 – better known as Polly – was built on three generations of baking experience.
“We bought our bakery about 39 years ago … and from there we expanded it,” she says.
“We got into it mainly because my husband’s a baker … and his parents had bakeries all their lives, so he was born into it.”
At its peak, the family operated multiple shops across Moss Vale and Bowral, before relocating to the current 110-year-old premises nine years ago, which they had thoughtfully designed into a bakery by the renowned local architect Kathy Barnsley.
“We were 30 years in our first location over the road … and now we’ve been here nine years,” Pollard says, noting a failed Woolworths development was to blame for the move.
The business has built its reputation on traditional bakery staples, particularly its pies.
“Probably our pies were always our best product … our steak pies, cakes,” she says.
“We did win silver, and I think I’d won a gold one once in the Aussie pie competition.”
Selling agent Hugh Hanrahan of Ray White Moss Vale and Bowral says the Argyle Street location continues to drive strong convenience-based trade.
“On Argyle Street there are a lot of people who pull over, grab their pie or pastry and a coffee, and then off they go to work or whatever they do. So, it’s a good location,” he says.
Hanrahan says the campaign has attracted buyer interest in the 104-square-metre building on a 384-square-metre block.
“We certainly gained a lot of inquiry over the past two weeks,” he says.
The property includes a substantial commercial kitchen, offering flexibility for continued use or repositioning, with multiple indoor and outdoor seating zones, disabled access, rear parking and E1 Local Centre zoning.
“We’ve got a very big kitchen here … someone will obviously want to do food out of it,” Pollard says.
She adds that securing approvals for a bakery operation was a significant undertaking, creating barriers to entry for competitors.
“Getting this passed as a bakery through council was a lot of work … someone just can’t go down the street and open one,” she says.
Hanrahan says the business remains deeply embedded in the local community.
“Everybody knows about Polly’s Pies in the Highlands,” he says.
“I like their meat pies. My dad used to take us there when I was a kid, and I’d only realised as I got older that we’d always eat the pies before we got home,” he says.
“I think that was because he didn’t want mum to know that we were eating pies and sausage rolls.”
The sale comes amid strong population growth across the Southern Highlands, with Moss Vale a key beneficiary of post-pandemic migration driven by tree-changers from Sydney, leading to substantial population growth and rising house prices, which have triggered nearby residential developments, such as Ashbourne Estate.
“Since COVID, everybody seems to have come to our district,” Pollard says. “Moss Vale’s growing exponentially.”
For Pollard, the campaign marks the end of a long and rewarding chapter, but it’s definitely time to hang up their aprons.
“It’s been a long road … and obviously we’re tired and trying to retire,” she laughs.
