It's Friday night and almost all the tables in the bar are taken. There's the buzz from friends meeting a group of mates after work, a group celebrating a birthday, youngsters playing chess, oldies putting the world to rights, all ages, all sorts, chilling out before the weekend.

The atmosphere inside the village pub and restaurant in New Pond Road, Holmer Green is like a family get-together without the tensions.

It hasn't always been this vibrant. The Old Oak has undergone a regime change for the good.

Before the arrival of new owners James and Sarah Keegan just before Christmas 2002, the village hostelry was not the sort of place that would be your first choice to spend an enjoyable evening. Despite the efforts of previous licensees, it couldn't shake off its reputation as a dump.

Fortunately for the village, the latest landlords have turned it round. It took shock tactics to sort it out and the revival didn't happen overnight but in the end the message got through.

First off, the Keegans circulated a flyer to every house in the locality announcing that henceforth swearing would be banned at The Old Oak. "Some people think it's stupid but we strongly object to swearing, People use these words all the time. They pollute the environment," said Sarah, a former pupil of the village middle school who ran a catering business for seven years before she met James.

There's still a notice pinned to the door at the entrance to the pub which reads "Sorry, no under 25s unless by prior arrangement with the proprietors." It's a warning to youngsters to give it a miss if they're looking for fruit machines, football on Sky or canned music.

There's still music but it's not the boom-boom I-Hate-Life rants that do your head in. The Friday we visited there was a guy playing light classics and ballads from the golden days of musicals on the piano in the restaurant area that adjoins the bar.

The piano along with the leather Chesterfields and the log fires in the winter have changed The Old Oak into a homely inn serving good freshly cooked food in a relaxed environment.

Villagers previously had to get in a car and drive a couple of miles down the road if they wanted go out for a meal instead of cooking at home, unless they opted to go to the only other restaurant in the village which is a Chinese.

Having experimented with a succession of chefs with varying results, Sarah is now in charge of the kitchen.

There's a fairly extensive menu in the evenings it doesn't run to several pages but it's certainly adequate. If you're not ravenously hungry you can select something off the bar menu they serve at lunchtimes. On the other hand if you're wanting a three course proper feast there's a choice of six starters and eight mains as well as specials on the blackboard. As my husband Mike smokes a pipe we chose a table in the bar because it's no smoking in the restaurant.

I started with a large plateful of deep fried whitebait and Mike had the soup of the day which was potato and parsley (£3.95 with a roll).

Potato and parsley doesn't sound enormously inviting but it evidently had hidden depths because the verdict was delicious and this from a man who always chooses soup as a first course so it was praise indeed.

My whitebait (£5.75 with a roll) weren't fried to a frazzle sometimes they are and all the flavour's destroyed. These were identifiable as what they were and jolly nice too.

Mike chose swordfish steak grilled with lemon and dill (£11.75) for a main course and I had Sarah's "signature dish" butterflied chicken breast pan-fried in butter in a creamy mushroom sauce with tarragon and chopped garlic (£10.25). Vegetables green beans, carrots, pureed parsnip with a touch of swede and new potatoes for me and chips and I forget what else for Mike were included in the price. Everything tasted as good as it looked and the portions were so generous we couldn't manage a pudding which was a shame because the choice included Cassis Royale, strawberries and cream, St Clements trifle and Eton Mess, £3.75 a dollop.

As usual when we go out, we opted for the house wine based on the theory that a restaurant won't pass off rubbish when their good name's at stake. This time it was a nicely chilled white, Les Vigneaux sauvignon blanc, (£12) which went well with both the fish and the chicken.

Just lovely it was, all of it. And the young 20-somethings playing chess on the next table and another group of lads talking about the next day's football had a lovely evening too. Which just goes to show that a village pub that's gone to the dogs can become an asset to the community again, given time and owners ready to pull it in the right direction.

Pat Bramley paid £52.10 for two courses for two, wine and pre-dinner drinks.