IT may have been 13 years since Steve Brookstein was crowned first winner of The X Factor but the lure of the talent show has yet to fade.

On Friday, hopeful singers lined up inside the promenade of Bolton's Market Place humming into headphones or pacing nervously up and down.

A once-empty unit of the shopping centre held, for one day only, their dreams of making it big.

Behind a small screen were talent scouts from the long-running ITV show, on the hunt for the stars of its 2017 series.

Among the crowds were finalists from the town's own vocal talent hunt Sing, Bolton Sing

Twenty two-year-old Zack Thornley, from Worsley, is used to the stage as a regular of the amateur dramatic society scene, performing for St Philips AODS.

He was asked to perform a musical number and chose Les Miserables' Star.

He said: "The rush of adrenaline you get from performing is something I have been chasing throughout my entire life, it's a fantastic, amazing feeling.

"The auditions were not what I was expecting, I really enjoyed myself.

"I think I have as much chance as everyone else. I've got tenacity on my side."

Amy Collins, aged 29 from Tonge Fold, came along with the support of her 18-month-old daughter Elsie Greyo and planned to perform Somebody to Love by Queen.

The full-time mum harbours no dreams of television stardom but is passionate about singing, performing gigs in her spare time.

She explained: "I thought I would give the auditions a try, if I do it, I do it.

"My dream is to be able to do what I love doing full time. I absolutely love singing."

The X Factor talent scouts set up shop for the day as part of a national open audition tour.

Hopefuls performed in front of a camera and faced a number of questions from the scouts.

The show is known for its contestants' colourful back stories and there was no shortage in Bolton.

Engineer and security man at Manchester United, Peter Green, aged 35 from Salford, was all smiles after completing his audition, believing he impressed with both his tone and tale.

He said: "They were talking to me for absolutely ages. They were fascinated by my life.

"I'm from a massive Irish musical family, my cousin is Jason Manford, I'm ex-army and I've got quite far in shows like this before. They wanted to know everything about me."

Travelling in from Manchester, 33-old Femi Osundina, who originally hails from London, was having his second try at the show after auditioning four years ago.

He adds: "I wanted to come to Bolton as it's a smaller venue so there's more chance of standing out.

"There are so many people out there trying to achieve the same thing, it can be very hard.

"The X Factor is the way of getting where you want quickly. The goal is to win it."