The popular Highlands business has won gold, silver and bronze in the Official Great Aussie Pie Competiton more times than local owners Robyn and Brian ‘Polly’ Pollard can count - but a downsize may still be on the cards.

A Woolworths supermarket has been proposed to be built on the corner of Argyle Street and Lackey Road and with a development application for the project currently before council, Robyn said relocation of Polly’s seemed “inevitable”.

Despite having about three years remaining on their lease, Robyn said she and Brian had been “left in the dark” about the future of the site.

“Obviously we’ll have to relocate, but unless we’re compensated for [early termination of] our lease we won’t be moving,” Robyn said.

“We’ve sent emails and asked questions but can’t get any answers about what it will mean for us, or what will happen to the rest of our lease.”

Robyn said there had been “no communication” in regard to development proposed for the site and the impact it would have on Polly’s Pies and Pastries.

“The only time we’ve had contact with the developer is when an urgent plumbing upgrade was required and we had to insist on action being taken,” she said.

“Obviously they have in their heads what they want to happen but we haven’t been informed.”

Robyn said even without an indication of when the current store would need to be vacated, she and Brian had tried to take a proactive stance.

“We’ve got a new location in Moss Vale but it’s a lot smaller, we’re not going to be able to recreate what we have here now,” she said.

“Our son Jono is a chef and he will run the new store for us but we’re going to have to make changes to operate in a smaller space.”

During its near-three decades of business, Polly’s Pies and Pastries expanded considerably and now occupies three stores within the Argyle Street retail complex.

“For that reason, we can’t afford to move from our current site until we absolutely have to,” Robyn said.

Selling up had been on the cards for the local couple, but Robyn said that was no longer an option.

“We were at the end of our workling life, but now we don’t have a business to sell,” she said.

“Who would buy a business that doesn’t have a locked-in future?”

Robyn said her customers had expressed mixed views about the thought of a Woolworths supermarket opening in Moss Vale.

“It’s a real mix about whether people want it here or not but the fact is once it’s here, people are going to use it,” she said.

Time will tell what the future will hold for the Lackey Road corner block, with the Woolworths DA currently being processed by council.

“Locals tell us they want us to stay in the area so we do feel that they’ll support us if and when we have to move, and we can only hope they do,” Robyn said.