When brothers Bert and Fred Bollom first took over running Mumbles Pier from their father John in 2015, they quickly realised that reviving the Swansea landmark would be a mammoth task. The pier had been owned by the Bollom family for decades but had lost its way ever since the closure of the legendary Cinderella's nightclub in the early 00s, explained the brothers.

The club was popular with a younger crowd and had proved to be a profitable Mumbles Pier institution until it came to an abrupt end as club-goers began to favour Swansea's Wind Street scene.

“We were still working out how to replace Cinderella's. [The pier] was starting to look a bit tatty and for a long time I think Fred and I were a bit embarrassed about it," said Bert. “It was hard to replace the income and profitability [of Cinderella's]," explained Bert's brother Fred. "Really, it was trying to find something we could grow rather than a flash in the pan." You can get more Swansea news and other story updates straight to your inbox by subscribing to our newsletters here.

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"You know the saying eat the frog?,", said Fred. "Whatever horrible job there is to do, do that first. But I think the frog was going to kill us. It was so big. Where do you start? That was the hard part. We took it quite slow. Catering was where we both came up from.” Since the age of 21, Bert had run his own restaurant, in St Helen's Road - New Capriccio- before he sold it in 2006. When a manager stopped working at the pier, Bert had only planned to help out his dad for a few weeks before moving abroad to become a ski instructor, but he's been there ever since, running the pier with his younger brother Fred.

"It's been a bit of a slog," agreed Fred and Bert, on taking on the family business, "but little by little we’ve got a little bit better or got a little bit more done. 2014 was the big one with the RNLI getting the station finished. But it wasn’t until we did the chip shop that we saw the business start to recover and to grow. Copperfish was great for that."

The new chip shop and restaurant was the brothers' 'baby' as their first major project on the pier. It opened in 2017 and the brothers had just enjoyed its most successful summer yet in 2022. But tragedy struck and a huge fire devastated the former Cinderella's nightclub and Copperfish buildings.

"We were really lucky no-one was hurt," Bert told WalesOnline last month. "It was the most surreal experience," he explained. Fred added: "It took the wind out of our sails for quite a while." Bert said it was not until the beginning of February the following year that the insurance company informed the owners that they were taking liability for the damage caused.

On the period of time spent waiting to hear that their insurers would pay out for the damage caused, Fred said: "You're left there really wondering, 'are we doomed?'. We've spent about £17 million on the pier all together over the last ten years with the RNLI, so we've been working pretty hard to get the site looking pretty nice. We weren't prepared to lose a big chunk and not be insured for it."

But the tragic fire was just one part of a long history of the pier and the Bollom family have decades of experience entertaining the people of Swansea. Fred and Bert's grandfather was the first generation of the Bollom family to work at at the Amusement Equipment Company which had amusement sites all over the country including one on Mumbles Pier. The company was founded in 1933 and out of the 22 sites owned by the company, the Mumbles landmark soon became a favourite holiday destination for the Bolloms.

The family originally lived in London, but by the time Bert was three they had moved to Swansea. On life growing up with a pier as their 'second home', Bert said: “It’s pretty much been all we know really. You had set jobs. At nine-years-old you swept the site. So you did two years of sweeping the site. Obviously, after the nightclub, there’s lots of cans and cigarette butts down there," he explained. “Then you moved up to peeling spuds. Then you got the ice cream window and the chip shop.” Fred added: “If you were lucky you got the helter skelter but that was out of commission by the time I came along."

Their father John was chairman of BALPPA (The British Association of Leisure Parks, Piers and Attractions). As a result, his four sons were lucky enough to tag along on trips with their father to theme parks across the world including Disneyworld- experiencing a behind-the-scenes look at how they were run.

Despite the sometimes glamorous perks of the job- the boys were not encouraged to follow in their father's footsteps, explained the brothers. “Dad always told us to do anything else other than work in this industry. The hours are unsociable, you’re not going home on the weekends. Kids' holidays and half terms are the busiest times so it does impact family life," said Fred.

But running the pier is something the brothers said they would find very difficult to give up. “I think the responsibility we felt is why we never left. You feel it very early on, you see people come down and it’s the best part of their week. They’ve saved up their 2ps, they’re with their family and they’re coming down for a nice day out. When you pull it off, it’s a really nice feeling," said Fred. "I am proud of what we achieved," added Bert.

As soon as the brothers took over the running of the pier from their father John, they decided to do away with gambling and gaming at the pier and focus on arcade games and good food. “Very early on, Fred and I spoke and neither of us wanted to do something that was taking advantage of people," said Bert. “There’s good money and there’s bad money. I think money from over 18 amusement arcades and nightclubs that blight seaside villages is bad money and money from quality fish and chips and people having a good time is better," he said.

When they took over the pier, the brothers said it often felt like a mixture of Pheonix Nights and Fawlty Towers. “We were very reactive rather than proactive," explained Bert.

“Let’s put it this way," added Fred, "the cafe was one of our biggest profit centres but the coffee machine didn’t work when it got busy. The ice cream machine didn’t work when it got busy and the frying range didn’t work when it got too busy. We had no money to replace anything and our chefs were pot washers who had quickly worked their way up.”

The brothers finally started earning enough to employ a chef and started making their own chips rather than using frozen packets. Customers noticed and profits improved and they were closer to offering the quality experience they were after, said the brothers.

With clear ideas of what sort of amusement destination they wanted Mumbles Pier to be, the brothers have set out on making their vision a reality and have not let the devastating fire stop them. Over a year on from the blaze that swept the pier, the takeaway section of Copperfish has already re-opened and a new restaurant will also open on the pier in six weeks' time. On the Rocks will be the pier's newest addition and will offer a sit-down dining experience with stunning views.

A multi-million pound redevelopment, including a headland hotel building, is also finally hoped to get under way this year. The main pavilion building will also be refurbished, a new boardwalk added along the water's edge, and parking reconfigured to provide 61 public spaces. Occupiers of new foreshore flats proposed will have their own undercroft parking. You can read more about those plans here.

“We’re really looking to provide something nicer and we’re only halfway through this journey. But we've seen the difference it’s made. There’s the chance of giving the people of Swansea something really quite beautiful. I do genuinely think we live in a beautiful part of the world that could be a lot better if we just tried a bit," said Fred.