diff --git a/node/network/availability-recovery/src/lib.rs b/node/network/availability-recovery/src/lib.rs
index 9d6092ef84e5..f028080d10e5 100644
--- a/node/network/availability-recovery/src/lib.rs
+++ b/node/network/availability-recovery/src/lib.rs
@@ -101,6 +101,12 @@ const TIMEOUT_START_NEW_REQUESTS: Duration = Duration::from_millis(100);
 
 /// The Availability Recovery Subsystem.
 pub struct AvailabilityRecoverySubsystem {
+	/// Do not request data from the availability store.
+	/// This is the useful for nodes where the
+	/// availability-store subsystem is not expected to run,
+	/// such as collators.
+	bypass_availability_store: bool,
+
 	fast_path: bool,
 	/// Receiver for available data requests.
 	req_receiver: IncomingRequestReceiver<request_v1::AvailableDataFetchingRequest>,
@@ -147,6 +153,9 @@ struct RecoveryParams {
 
 	/// Metrics to report
 	metrics: Metrics,
+
+	/// Do not request data from availability-store
+	bypass_availability_store: bool,
 }
 
 /// Source the availability data either by means
@@ -467,7 +476,7 @@ impl RequestChunksFromValidators {
 		let metrics = &params.metrics;
 
 		// First query the store for any chunks we've got.
-		{
+		if !params.bypass_availability_store {
 			let (tx, rx) = oneshot::channel();
 			sender
 				.send_message(AvailabilityStoreMessage::QueryAllChunks(params.candidate_hash, tx))
@@ -668,7 +677,7 @@ where
 {
 	async fn run(mut self) -> Result<AvailableData, RecoveryError> {
 		// First just see if we have the data available locally.
-		{
+		if !self.params.bypass_availability_store {
 			let (tx, rx) = oneshot::channel();
 			self.sender
 				.send_message(AvailabilityStoreMessage::QueryAvailableData(
@@ -856,6 +865,7 @@ async fn launch_recovery_task<Context>(
 	receipt: CandidateReceipt,
 	backing_group: Option<GroupIndex>,
 	response_sender: oneshot::Sender<Result<AvailableData, RecoveryError>>,
+	bypass_availability_store: bool,
 	metrics: &Metrics,
 ) -> error::Result<()> {
 	let candidate_hash = receipt.hash();
@@ -867,6 +877,7 @@ async fn launch_recovery_task<Context>(
 		candidate_hash,
 		erasure_root: receipt.descriptor.erasure_root,
 		metrics: metrics.clone(),
+		bypass_availability_store,
 	};
 
 	let phase = backing_group
@@ -906,6 +917,7 @@ async fn handle_recover<Context>(
 	session_index: SessionIndex,
 	backing_group: Option<GroupIndex>,
 	response_sender: oneshot::Sender<Result<AvailableData, RecoveryError>>,
+	bypass_availability_store: bool,
 	metrics: &Metrics,
 ) -> error::Result<()> {
 	let candidate_hash = receipt.hash();
@@ -949,6 +961,7 @@ async fn handle_recover<Context>(
 				receipt,
 				backing_group,
 				response_sender,
+				bypass_availability_store,
 				metrics,
 			)
 			.await,
@@ -977,13 +990,22 @@ async fn query_full_data<Context>(
 
 #[overseer::contextbounds(AvailabilityRecovery, prefix = self::overseer)]
 impl AvailabilityRecoverySubsystem {
+	/// Create a new instance of `AvailabilityRecoverySubsystem` which never requests the  
+	/// `AvailabilityStoreSubsystem` subsystem.
+	pub fn with_availability_store_skip(
+		req_receiver: IncomingRequestReceiver<request_v1::AvailableDataFetchingRequest>,
+		metrics: Metrics,
+	) -> Self {
+		Self { fast_path: false, bypass_availability_store: true, req_receiver, metrics }
+	}
+
 	/// Create a new instance of `AvailabilityRecoverySubsystem` which starts with a fast path to
 	/// request data from backers.
 	pub fn with_fast_path(
 		req_receiver: IncomingRequestReceiver<request_v1::AvailableDataFetchingRequest>,
 		metrics: Metrics,
 	) -> Self {
-		Self { fast_path: true, req_receiver, metrics }
+		Self { fast_path: true, bypass_availability_store: false, req_receiver, metrics }
 	}
 
 	/// Create a new instance of `AvailabilityRecoverySubsystem` which requests only chunks
@@ -991,12 +1013,12 @@ impl AvailabilityRecoverySubsystem {
 		req_receiver: IncomingRequestReceiver<request_v1::AvailableDataFetchingRequest>,
 		metrics: Metrics,
 	) -> Self {
-		Self { fast_path: false, req_receiver, metrics }
+		Self { fast_path: false, bypass_availability_store: false, req_receiver, metrics }
 	}
 
 	async fn run<Context>(self, mut ctx: Context) -> SubsystemResult<()> {
 		let mut state = State::default();
-		let Self { fast_path, mut req_receiver, metrics } = self;
+		let Self { fast_path, mut req_receiver, metrics, bypass_availability_store } = self;
 
 		loop {
 			let recv_req = req_receiver.recv(|| vec![COST_INVALID_REQUEST]).fuse();
@@ -1025,6 +1047,7 @@ impl AvailabilityRecoverySubsystem {
 										session_index,
 										maybe_backing_group.filter(|_| fast_path),
 										response_sender,
+										bypass_availability_store,
 										&metrics,
 									).await {
 										gum::warn!(
@@ -1041,6 +1064,14 @@ impl AvailabilityRecoverySubsystem {
 				in_req = recv_req => {
 					match in_req.into_nested().map_err(|fatal| SubsystemError::with_origin("availability-recovery", fatal))? {
 						Ok(req) => {
+							if bypass_availability_store {
+								gum::debug!(
+									target: LOG_TARGET,
+									"Skipping request to availability-store.",
+								);
+								let _ = req.send_response(None.into());
+								continue
+							}
 							match query_full_data(&mut ctx, req.payload.candidate_hash).await {
 								Ok(res) => {
 									let _ = req.send_response(res.into());