Pub chain Greene King are still unable to confirm what their plans are for Headington’s historic Crown and Thistle, left, which closed earlier this year.

There had been a pub on the site of the Crown and Thistle for some 400 years but it was closed on New Year’s Eve after the company decided it was “unviable”. At the time they could not say what would happen to it, and four months later that it is still the case.

A spokesperson for Greene King said: “We are still reviewing options and are unable to confirm future plans at this stage.”

The current building dates from the 1800s but before that the site on the corner of Old Road and Titup Hall Drive had been home to a coaching inn for about 200 years.

Called Titup Hall, the inn was on the only route between Oxford and London and in 1669 it was the departure point for the first coach to reach the capital in a day.