diff --git a/app/services/projects/destroy_service.rb b/app/services/projects/destroy_service.rb
index a1279bfb3a3035d078fbad5c2c280ba4e48307a1..5893b8eedff5fe56c5ec14cfca5540568c78e106 100644
--- a/app/services/projects/destroy_service.rb
+++ b/app/services/projects/destroy_service.rb
@@ -173,6 +173,7 @@ module Projects
     end
 
     def remove_registry_tags
+      return true unless Gitlab.config.registry.enabled
       return false unless remove_legacy_registry_tags
 
       project.container_repositories.find_each do |container_repository|
diff --git a/changelogs/unreleased/sh-disable-registry-delete.yml b/changelogs/unreleased/sh-disable-registry-delete.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..180b983e07c8c3539b48becbb8ba107badb998b7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelogs/unreleased/sh-disable-registry-delete.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+title: Don't attempt to contact registry if it is disabled
+merge_request: 31553
+author:
+type: fixed
diff --git a/spec/services/projects/destroy_service_spec.rb b/spec/services/projects/destroy_service_spec.rb
index e436af77ed4a86ed1af52184fa12298a11dc6632..9a6f64b825a8f35ae406d09257e9bb683a9d681f 100644
--- a/spec/services/projects/destroy_service_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/services/projects/destroy_service_spec.rb
@@ -241,6 +241,18 @@ describe Projects::DestroyService do
           expect(destroy_project(project, user)).to be false
         end
       end
+
+      context 'when registry is disabled' do
+        before do
+          stub_container_registry_config(enabled: false)
+        end
+
+        it 'does not attempting to remove any tags' do
+          expect(Projects::ContainerRepository::DestroyService).not_to receive(:new)
+
+          destroy_project(project, user)
+        end
+      end
     end
 
     context 'when there are tags for legacy root repository' do