"It’s coming along all right. I can confidently say it is going to be late September." Those were the words from Stephen Bortolin, General Manager of the Lismore Workers Club, that will excite Lismore residents.

Pre-flood the Workers Club had over 11,500 members. As Stephen said, it would have been two and a half years since the February 28 2022 big flood ripped out the heart of the club, leaving it with a massive estimated $11 million rebuild. With spiralling construction costs, you can be sure the final figure will be well north of that mark.

"Don’t tell me it has gone quickly," Stephen laughs, "It has been a long road. It was something I definitely didn’t want to go through."

"We've had a few little things delay us like materials, part of the decor, tradies, electrical stuff that we didn’t know of. We have to reinstate the back kitchens. We are not going to renovate those, they will stay as they are. To replace them would be another $3 million, so it's about getting the equipment fired up.

There will be a precursor to the actual late September grand opening, and that is the unveiling of the new look modern exterior.

Stephen said there would be no big fanfare on the day. When the scaffolding comes down, it will reveal a facade that closely resembles the above artist's impression.

"We wanted to keep it pretty close to the plan. We have some signage to put up and some glazing to be completed then the scaffolding can come down. We are probably looking at about six weeks for that to happen."

The entrance to the Lismore Workers Club on the ground floor is not going to house anything valuable due to the threat of floods but it will be impressive.

"It will look magnificent. It is very different. We got rid of the atrium, which was good in its day but it was not very practical because every time it rained it leaked,"

Now the word is out, bookings are flowing in for October from the corporate sector, private functions and school formals.

"We are pretty much booked out from October right through until the end of the year, and going into early next year, we have bookings too. Plus we have entertainment back from November."

The first of which is the Boney M Experience, which is slated for Saturday, November 9 followed by Marina Prior and Michael Cormick Centrestage on the 16th of November.

2024 is set to be the year for building openings as Mary G's $700,000 external makeover and beer garden should be completed towards the end of the year, making the Lismore CBD facades more pleasing to the eye.