Hayley Mills and the Newport Transporter Bridge

A child star, a steel giant and a friendship that has lasted more than 65 years.

In 1959 a 12-year-old Hayley Mills rode the gondola of the Newport Transporter Bridge for the cameras of Tiger Bay. It was her first major film role, and it launched a career that took her to Disney and Hollywood. Six decades later, she is still one of the bridge's most devoted champions.

The timing makes this story worth retelling now. The bridge turned 120 on 12 September 2026, and it is closed for a restoration that will see it carry people across the River Usk again in 2027.

Tiger Bay: where it began

Tiger Bay is a 1959 British crime drama directed by J. Lee Thompson. Hayley plays Gillie, a tomboyish girl from Cardiff's docklands who witnesses a young Polish sailor, played by Horst Buchholz, kill his girlfriend. Her real-life father, John Mills, plays the police superintendent on the case.

Unusually for a British film of the time, it was shot largely on location: in Cardiff's Tiger Bay district, at Bristol's Avonmouth Docks, and at the Newport Transporter Bridge, about 12 miles from Cardiff. The bridge appears in the film's title sequence, and Hayley filmed scenes aboard its gondola.

The role won her a BAFTA as most promising newcomer. Legend has it that Walt Disney's wife saw the film and urged him to cast Hayley as Pollyanna (1960). The Parent Trap followed in 1961.

The star of the show: an Edwardian marvel

A transporter bridge is a suspended ferry. Instead of a road deck, a gondola hangs from a high boom and glides across the river, leaving the channel clear for tall ships. Newport needed exactly that around 1900: the port was busy, and workers on the east bank faced a four-mile walk to the steelworks via the town bridge.

French engineer Ferdinand Arnodin designed it with Robert Haynes. Work began in 1902, and Lord Tredegar opened it on 12 September 1906, at a cost of £98,000.

• Height: towers of about 74 m
• Span: 197 m (645 ft) between the towers
• Status: Grade I listed, and the largest of the few transporter bridges still standing worldwide

Sixty years on: Hayley comes back

In May 2019, Hayley returned to the bridge for the first time since filming. She was recording Movie Memories: The Making of Tiger Bay for ITV Wales. The programme's producer said she talked about the bridge with genuine warmth and affection, and was thrilled to see it up close again.

Her affection goes beyond nostalgia. Hayley is Honorary Life Vice President of the Friends of Newport Transporter Bridge, the volunteer group that campaigns to protect the structure.

Restoration and the road to 2027

The bridge is closed while a multimillion-pound project restores it and builds a new visitor centre beside it. Contractors expect to finish in early 2027, and the council plans to welcome visitors back for the new season once the site is confirmed safe.

• Why the delay: parts of the structure were in worse condition than expected, and work at that height is at the mercy of the weather.
• Done so far: most of the bracing pins have been inspected and replaced, new cables fitted, and the boom refurbishment is largely complete.
• What's coming: an accessible visitor centre with outdoor terraces looking onto the bridge. More than 1,000 people have already toured it on pre-arranged visits.
• Back to work: the gondola will once again carry vehicles and passengers across the Usk.

For Hayley, and for everyone who has ridden that gondola, 2027 should be quite a homecoming.