The Quarry Gate pub was opened in 1937 to serve the new estate that had been built on the fields that separated the two villages of New Headington and Quarry. It was named after the gate crossing the footpath through the former allotments.

In the early 1990s half of its garden was sold for housing.

The pub was put up for sale for £899,000 in January 2011, but took a long time to sell, with its price latterly reduced from £899,000 to £775.000.

It was eventually bought in mid-2013 by Seville Developments of Oxford for £600,000.

• Oxford Mail, 27 September 2013:
  “Ale campaigners fear Headington pub site will be turned into housing”

Internal work on the building started in January 2014, and for a year Seville Developments used it as their offices. They then demolished the building in April 2015 and moved to the Watlington Road.

In late 2023 Seville Developments sold the site to Kilkenny & Gomm Developments Ltd of Oxford. They submitted an application to vary the conditions of an earlier approved plan (see (3) below) with a view to commencing development before that permission expires in June 2024, but their application was refused on 30 January 2024::

• Refused application 23/02904/VAR: “Variation of condition 2 (Develop in accordance with approved plans), 8 (Contamination 1) and 13 (CTMP) of planning permission 21/00586/FUL”

The five planning applications submitted earlier by Seville Developments

Seville Developments submitted five planning applications for the site.

• (1) Their first (full) application was refused on 19 June 2018 on the grounds that it “fails to relate to the strong sense of character of the surrounding area”. It was for “Erection of 1 x 3-bed and 2 x 4-bed dwellinghouses (Use Class C3). Provision of private amenity space, bin and cycle storage and car parking spaces”:
  Refused application 18/00939/FUL
• (2) Their second (outline) planning application was approved on 22 May 2020: “Outline application (seeking approval of access, layout and scale) for the erection of 1 x 3-bed dwelling and 2 x 4-bed dwellings”:
  Approved outline application 17/02142/OUT
  Approved reserved matters. 20/00652/RES
• (3) Their third (full) planning application was approved in June 2021. This was for: “Erection of 3 x 4-bed dwellinghouses (Use Class C3). Provision of car parking, private amenity space, bin and bike stores”:
  Approved application 21/00586/FUL
  Rejection by Building Control 22/00606/DOMFP
  Application validated on 2 January 2024 for variation of three conditions relating to this plan
• (4) Their fourth (full) planning application was approved on 19 October 2021. This was for: “Erection of a 1 x 4 -bed dwelling with garage (Use Class C3) and 4 x 2-bed apartments (Use Class C3). Provision of landscaping and bin and cycle storage”:
  Approved application 21/01739/FUL
• (5) The last plan, submitted in September 2023, was withdrawn in January 2024. It was for “Erection of 3 x 4-bed dwellinghouses (Use Class C3). Provision of car parking, private amenity space and bin and cycle stores” is not yet decided:
  Withdrawn application 23/02248/FUL