If you miss mirrored sunglasses, pop socks and shoulder pads, a new addition to York's party bar scene is definitely for you.

Reflex - in the former Edwards bar - has transformed a corner of George Hudson Street into an Eighties' timewarp, complete with revolving dancefloor and an area named Club Tropicana.

And boss Tony Collins, whose wife Beverly runs the nearby Flares Seventies bar, says it's time for drinkers to get used to having two decades of cheesy culture on their doorstep.

"Reflex is packed with enough glitz and glamour to make even Crystal Carrington jealous," he says. "So before people throw out their Chelsea boots they should come down and be part of the revival."

"The bar is for anyone who remembers rolling up the sleeves of their pastel-coloured suit and moonwalking across the dance floor" he adds, or perhaps for those who wish they had.

Reflex has a late licence until 1am every night except Sunday and theme nights are in the offing for all Wham wannabes and burgeoning Brosettes.

Meanwhile a five-strong team of promoters, who are all "mad as hatters" according to Tony, are outside on weekends drumming up business.

Inside, the bar has had a 1980s make-over, complete with tacky memorabilia of the days of Kylie and Jason, Ford Capris and Wonder Woman.

For the diehards, on sale behind the bar are "I love the 80s" T-shirts, Magnum-style sunglasses, fishnet gloves and rocket-shaped brassieres made famous by Madonna.

So if you fancy a drink in surroundings with a difference, and like the idea of going from flower power to power suits in a few hundred yards, Bar Talk knows the place for you.

Congratulations to Shaun Singleton at the Red Lion, Poppleton, for surviving months of tea-making and dusty sandwiches as builders gave his pub a £200,000 face-lift.

Shaun, who has run the landmark business on the A59 just outside York with wife Diane for 18 months, celebrated with a big old bash for all and sundry.

Chas Hall, who has recently taken over the reins as Lord Mayor of York, gave the place his seal of approval as an Irish boy band and Roy Orbison tribute act were wheeled out to entertain the punters.

"We wanted to mark our reopening with a party to remember. The evening has been brilliant and everyone has enjoyed themselves. It shows all our hard work has paid off," says Shaun.

The pub now boasts a 65-seater restaurant named Wesley's after its most famous visitor, John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist Church.

Sadly no-one can quite remember what the Evangelist was doing there in the 18th century, but after travelling up from his Lincolnshire home he probably worked up quite a thirst.

DRINKING is a fine art at The Star Inn at Harome, near Helmsley, which has been short-listed for the best champagne list in the UK.

Some of us may not even have realised restaurants had a separate champagne list, but evidently many have, and the Trophe Gosset Celbris is given to the best one.

The Star does have quite a pedigree and since Andrew and Jacquie Pern took it over in June 1996 they have transformed the 600-year-old property into an award-winning culinary attraction.

Apparently the wine cellar itself dates back to the ninth century, but it's unlikely that any of the 150 wines and champagnes in it date back that far, which is reassuring.

The results will be announced at an awards ceremony in London in mid September and the bubbly pair stand to win a trip to visit the Champagne Gosset winery in the village of A. Good luck to them.

Updated: 08:30 Saturday, July 12, 2003