I’m eating a Sherbert Dip Dab and listening to Craig David with a tropical blue drink in front of me. Name that year…

It might feel like I’ve re-wound to the noughties, but believe it or not this is 2025 and I’m in Charisma Cocktail Bar in Minster on the Isle of Sheppey.

Garage tunes are blaring out and the menu, with its old-skool woo woos, cosmopolitans and daiquiris, is like an old friend. But sadly, I seem to be the only one who’s hopped into this particular time machine.

It’s 6pm on a Friday, but it’s fair to say the barmaid seemed pretty startled when we opened the door and interrupted her mopping to make inquiries about happy hour.

Nevertheless, she graciously jumped into position behind the bar and talked us through the 3 for 2 offer.

Charisma opened in what was the King’s Arms pub and, I think it’s safe to say, altered the old boozer’s decor a smidge. At least the mystery of what happened to the Brinks-Mat gold is solved anyway.

Floor to ceiling, everything is gilded - the tables, the bar, ornamental lions, gorillas, snakes, pineapples. You name it. And there’s no let up in the toilets either, where the walls are rendered in glittering honeycomb tiles and water is dispensed from a golden swan’s beak.

The drinks have changed a little too. Pints of mild have made way for Ribena, bubblegum and candy floss-flavoured cocktails.

If you have a sweet tooth, you’re in luck - some even come topped with cream or sprinkles.

As a throwback to my first girls’ holiday, I go for a Rubber Duck with coconut rum, blue curaçao, pineapple juice and lemonade while my drinking partner goes full retro with a Dibbie Dabberson - a mix of amaretto, peach schnapps, cranberry and lemon juice.

This drink is a variation of the one made famous at Shoreditch’s ball pit cocktail bar, Ballie Ballerson, and the hero ingredient is a full packet of sherbert Dip Dab tacked onto the straw.

My drinking buddy coos about the fact he hasn’t seen, let alone tasted one, in 20 years but I dismiss it as a novelty - until I try the elements together that is. The mix of sweet and sour is surprisingly good and the lolly ‘stirrer’ has to be wrenched away from me.

Sugar rush on the way, we turn to mine, which also has the fun factor. My margarita glass is filled with what resembles a tiny Smurf’s bubble bath, complete with foam and a floating rubber duck.

The tropical flavours definitely took me back to that girls’ tour of Kavos, I just hoped it wouldn’t replicate the hangover too.

It tasted a little artificial but that’s an occupational hazard when you insist on drinking something that looks vaguely radioactive. Our 3 for 2 deal was completed with a margarita.

There’s really nowhere to hide when you’re just dealing with three ingredients but the quality of the spirits weren’t up to the task on this one - or perhaps I’m just cranky because the sugar high is wearing off.

Sadly, nobody else was drawn by Charisma’s charms during the hour we were there, but from the bar’s socials I’d say we just picked a bad time to visit. It clearly gets lively and there’s often DJs spinning decks.

It’s also regularly booked out for private parties which it receives nothing but glowing reviews for.

I wanted to love Charisma. It was fun and nostalgic and I would have been chuffed to have had somewhere like this on my doorstep in my teens. But now, at an age where I use words like “chuffed”, it just made me feel a bit old. Like my iPod, clamshell phone and hair crimpers, it turns out I’m happy to leave my noughties drinking experiences in the past.

Charisma Cocktail Bar, 2 High Street, Minster-on-Sea, ME12 3QD

Décor: More gold than a J’adore perfume ad. It’s in-your-face but you can’t say the place doesn’t have its own distinct DNA when it comes to interior design ***

Drinks: The props were novel and the amaretto was unexpectedly good, but I couldn’t do more than one Dip Dab in one sitting. Let’s not dwell on the margarita **

Price: Most of the cocktails linger in the £7.50-8.50 range which is about as cheap as you’ll find outside Spoons. The exception is the piña colada and strawberry daiquiri which come in at a much pricier £12. The happy hour 3 for 2 deal (check the Facebook page for the latest offers) seemed a strange number to pick, but made it one of the cheapest nights out I can remember ****

Staff: The barmaid was chatty and helpful, but just a little lonely ****

Best for: Late nights or occasions