Pier owner gives update on developments

Richard Youle Local Democracy Reporter

The joint owner of a landmark pier said he hoped work could start on 26 foreshore flats early next year, followed by a 69-bed hotel called The Nets in late 2026.

Fred Bollom, managing director of family firm Amusement Equipment Co Limited, also said he was determined to complete the long-term restoration of Mubles Pier, which would reinstate public access to the RNLI lifeboat station and shop at the end.

In other pier developments, additional seating is being created for Copperfish restaurant customers, and Amusement Equipment Co Limited has applied to Swansea Council for planning permission to create an apartment at the Monkey House – a grade two-listed building whose ground floor used to be public toilets.

Aim

Mr Bollom, who runs the pier with his older brother – operations director Bert – said the apartment building would be called The Moorings and consist of 20 two-bed units and 6 three-bed duplexes with private parking. Some public parking would be retained.

The aim, he said, was to complete the development, which gained planning consent six years ago, in 2027. He added that an estate agent would be “hitting the market soon” about The Moorings.

Turning to the headland hotel, Mr Bollom said it would comprise a 300-seat function suite on the ground floor, a 180-seat restaurant on the ground and first floor, with 69 hotel rooms with private balconies or terraces on four storeys above.

“We are quite excited about it,” he said. “We’ve got backers who really like the site and location.” The aim is for completion in 2028.

Copperfish, along with the adjacent Waterfront Winterland Ferris wheel, would move elsewhere on the 14-acre site to facilitate the hotel’s construction.

Meanwhile, Mr Bollom said work on a foreshore boardwalk between the inshore lifeboat station and the pier will resume in October this year. The first section of the boardwalk is where the new On The Rocks restaurant-bar is.

Mr Bollom said the company was still in recovery mode after a large fire badly damaged the Copperfish building and former Cinderella’s nightclub in August 2022, just as two years of Covid disruption was coming to an end. “We haven’t had a normal year of trading since 2019,” he said.

The insurance company has paid out, but Mr Bollom said Amusement Equipment Co Limited was under-insured, which he said has had a significant impact on the funds available to complete the pier revamp.

“We are working with the RNLI to find a solution but we require a further £1.8 million to finish the pier refurbishment,” he said.

A request for a £400,000 loan from the Development Bank of Wales was, he said, recently turned down, although the bank did provide On The Rocks with £477,000 of support. “It’s performing really well, created 30 jobs, and the reviews have been very good,” said Mr Bollom of the restaurant.

He said Amusement Equipment Co Ltd has spent £11 million on the grade two-listed pier since 1999, with the RNLI investing £17.5 million. “We have worked with the RNLI since 1933 – it’s a very long-standing relationship,” he said. “They are a really important part of the pier.”

The RNLI has maintained its day-to-day operations, launching from the foreshore in a small boat and from there boarding its £2.7 million all-weather lifeboat moored a couple of hundreds metres off the pier as and when required.

It also has a smaller inshore lifeboat. The maritime charity has previously said that the effect on its operations has been minimal and that it continued to work with the pier owners to try to return the all-weather vessel to the station, which was opened in 2014.

Amusement Equipment Co Ltd’s latest plan is to convert the upper section of The Monkey House into a two-bedroom apartment with a private terrace looking across the bay towards Swansea.

The ground floor would only have some minor refurbishment and not be part of the flat. Council planning officers are assessing the application, along with a separate one to retain the Ferris wheel at the pier between February and October.