Staff and business-owners at Mumbles Pier are reeling with further hurt and disappointment after discovering thieves allegedly broke into a restaurant destroyed by fire and stole scrap metal and alcohol from behind the bar, just one day after a blaze destroyed the building.
A spokesperson for Mumbles Pier said owners Bert and Fred Bollom and their staff headed down to the site today to start clearing up the rubble and debris from the fire - which they'd previously labelled "devastating" - but were left even more shocked and saddened after discovering that people had broken past the barriers overnight and taken advantage of the incident which saw palls of thick black smoke over Swansea Bay.
"Last night people went down to the site and took all the valuable scrap from the demolition and the alcohol from behind the bar," the spokesperson said. "We're really saddened, they're opportunists that have taken advantage of the situation."
Read more: Some firefighters had 'issues with equipment' at Mumbles blaze
Firefighters spent hours battling the blaze as it swept through a building on the shore-end of the pier on Wednesday, August 31. Flames completely decimated popular restaurant Copperfish and a huge neighbouring community room known by many locals as the former Cinderella's nightclub.
No-one was injured in the fire and, fortunately, the blaze never spread to the amusements, Beach Hut cafe, RNLI base or the pier itself, but it has been confirmed that tropical fish in tanks at Copperfish restaurant did die in the incident. Get Swansea stories straight to your inbox with our newsletter.
Photos of the scene, taken on Thursday, show the damage to Copperfish restaurant, with part of the roof having collapsed and many walls and fixtures disintegrated. Dozens of tables, chairs and striking artworks had been destroyed and debris and rubble could be seen throughout the building. The site is said to remain "unsafe" and members of the public are reminded not to trespass past the safety barriers, for fear of injury. We streamed shocking footage of the damage at Copperfish restaurant to our Facebook page - you can watch it here.
Beach Hut cafe and the amusements arcade at Mumbles Pier have since re-opened to the public. They, and the pier itself, were not affected by the fire and the pier has been open to visitors since yesterday afternoon.
All Copperfish staff have been redeployed to other businesses on the pier, such as the arcade and the Beach Hut cafe and it's said that no jobs have been lost. Events booked at Mumbles Pier will also still go ahead, as the pier's function space is based in the Beach Hut cafe which was unaffected by the fire.
Earlier, Bert and Fred Bollom said they were devastated by the fire but really grateful for the support of their staff and the wider community. "Before anything else, I'd just to like to thank the emergency services and everyone who was involved in putting out the fire," said co-owner Bert Bollom.
"They went above and beyond and we're really grateful for everyone's effort in it, the police have been wonderful. All my staff, I can't thank them all enough. That said, as a family and as a business we are mortified. Words can't cover how I feel at the moment. I'm so upset, it's something else."
Bert's brother and co-owner of Mumbles Pier, Fred Bollom, said: "I think we're really grateful for our staff as well. They cleared the site as quickly as they could. There's no issues, no injuries, so we're very thankful for that at the moment, and we just continue to assess the damage."
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