IN CLICHED terms, it would be entirely appropriate to have exclaimed: “Eureka! We’ve found it!” and maybe splashed a few pints around to mirror Archemedes’ excitement about water displacement.

But we’d been to the Eureka pub in Ormskirk once before so there was no surprise involved. In fact, we hadn’t been particularly inclined to return because of the miserable get of a host who dealt with Yours Truly and The Old Man on the previous occasion.

All things must pass, however, and a little bird had told us that things had improved enormously at what, in an ideal world, should be a small but perfectly-formed community pub among the terraces of Halsall Lane.

Which it now is, thanks to the work of Simon Taylor and his wife, Louise, pub first timers who took over the place two years ago last May.

They spent the first year getting the beer right, says Simon, from Chorley, who was formerly a horticultural construction engineer (a posh name for someone who builds big greenhouses). Not being a tied house, it left them free to buy and choose what they wanted and now there are four regular cask ales to choose from – Timothy Taylor Landlord, London Pride, Tetley's and Black Sheep – plus a fifth wild card guest bitter which, on our visit, was Jennings Cock a Hoop.

Despite such an excellent range of real ale choices, it being a sultry summer’s eve, we chose frosty, fruity, draught pints of the Italian Birra Poretti, a winner with the lager cognoscenti. We adjourned to the beer garden which under the Taylors’ stewardship now has a play area for the kids to scamper in keeping with their game plan to make the Eureka a family pub for all seasons.

And not just for their customers.

“We wanted to make this a pub somewhere you would want to come and sit with your own family, the sort of place where I could comfortably take my Mum, or mine and Louise’s little kids,” explains Simon, who has a five-year-old son, Sam, and Harry, who is just a few weeks old.

Which also explains why they’ve had a no swearing policy from day one and put a bar on bangin’ choons, alcopops and big screen TVs. They’ve also encouraged the traditional pub games of darts and doms which are going through something of a renaissance around here: the Eureka has thriving teams in both the Ormskirk and Burscough leagues.

“There are enough pubs in the centre of Ormskirk catering for youngsters and the student crowd with that kind of thing where they have almost tried to force a custom on a place rather than let it be taken over naturally by the local community,” says the landlord sagely.

The final piece in the jigsaw has been the development of the food menu. This is where trained chef Louise has taken centre stage serving up mounds of fresh, home-made food of the trencherman variety. Sunday lunch, which is served from noon until 7pm, is especially popular, ‘nuff said.

The smoking ban, which has hit the takings at other traditional pubs, has worked in their favour.

“It’s a small pub which only holds about 50 people so it only needs about five people smoking to put diners off,” says Simon.

So if all that does tick all your boxes, then Eureka, you have found your ideal pub.

And cliche be damned.