Tales of boom and bust have dotted Lucknow's history but after a couple of years of business closures things are again looking up for the highway town.
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A new service station opened last week on the site of a former closure.
And soon it is expected the town's pub will re-open with new owners.
This follows the opening of the Larder and Home cafe and homewares store last year.
Service station owner Sri Rangineni said while business had been slow in the first week largely due to COVID-19 lockdowns he was confident about the future.
He said roadworks were also ongoing to provide access to his site plus they were waiting for warmer weather to seal the forecourt of the service station.
Mr Rangineni said he had a long history in the industry.
"I've got two service stations in Bathurst and Perthville and before that I was a site manager in a Shell/Coles Express," he said,
Mr Rangineni said the Metro Lucknow fuel and food business was aiming to be competitive on fuel prices.
"Metro is always the cheapest price," he said.
Mayor of Orange, and therefore the mayor of Lucknow, Reg Kidd said it was great to see businesses re-opening in the town.
"I think it's fantastic. It has seen a revival," he said.
Cr Kidd said Lucknow could offer the appeal of Millthorpe but in a different way.
He said the former gold mining town had a lot of history to show.
"There's a lot of potential there," he said.
Cr Kidd said the council had introduced lights to shine at the old mine poppet head beside the Mitchell Highway to complement lighting at the Wentworth Mine site.
He said the School of Arts building was also being repaired after it was damaged by fire in 2019.
Cr Kidd said there was also potential for people to move into the area and commute to work in Orange.
"Lucknow was once bigger than Orange. It was a thriving town," he said.
Lucknow's closures in recent years have included the former Darcy's Old Wares second hand store.
Its historic bluestone St John the Evangelist church also closed and was sold for residential use last year before going back on the market earlier this year. The 1873 church building sold for $510,000 last month.
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