The pier – which was built in 1898 and has been owned by the same family business since the 1930s – is now run by John Bollom (pictured above, second right).

The Bollom family had already carried out considerable work on the pier maintaining its original Victorian grandeur, including an upgraded beach hut café and a premium fish restaurant, which opened in April last year.

The family was looking for more funding to complete a major upgrade to the pier’s girder structure and replace and finish the railing and walkways.

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However, they found it difficult to secure finance for the work, as the firm’s managing director Fred Bollom (left), son of John, explained: “We’re an unusual, asset-heavy business and found not many banks wanted to lend to rebuild a Victorian pier.”

The Bollom family approached ThinCats, which agreed to provide £1.6m to both refinance the existing bank loan and carry forward the renovation.

The loan agreement took two months to complete from start to finish.

Commenting on how he found working with ThinCats, Fred said: “[It was] a total sea-change: much better than dealing with high street lenders as ThinCats appraise the whole business and make a decision based on that, not just on what you can put on a loan application form.

“It’s like what banks used to do, but not any more.”

Also pictured: Alison Whistance (second left), Albert Bollom (right)