AMBITIOUS plans to transform a former town centre car park into a unique new multi-million pound development have moved to another level.

The masterminds behind the proposals for Bow Street Car Park have confirmed that an international hotel chain is interested in opening in the building, as well as a variety of small independent traders, a food court and a business which teaches very young children to swim.

The development will be named Mill Yard and has attracted major developer Wright Investments, a construction and property development company based in Doncaster.

Mill Yard is the brainchild of Bolton business owners Geeta and Subhash Kotecha, who run the Spice Valley Indian restaurants in Horwich and at Noble House in the town centre.

Mrs Kotecha said: “We decided on the name Mill Yard to highlight the history and heritage of Bolton’s past and concentrate on the positive aspects of those traditional businesses. The space lends itself to that theme and we want to recreate a bustling atmosphere – an exciting environment of creativity.

“It is an incredibly complicated project. Retro-fitting a car park to accommodate a wide range of uses is complex, but it is important to us that it is able to accommodate a mix of attractions and be for local people, local businesses and positioned in the local community.

She added: “It is a unique development, but a similar thing has been proven to work, for example – close to home – Botany Bay.

“A more contemporary example would be Peckham Levels in London, which was also a multi-storey car park and is now a successful creative and cultural hub.”

Richard Wright, from Wright Investments, said the company was very excited to be involved and saw the project as “unique and exciting”.

The proposal also dovetails with the town’s tourism strategy and aims to attract people to come and stay in Bolton, especially around major events like Ironman and the food and drink festival.

The hotel chain that has shown an interest is said to be very keen to get involved and has described Bolton as a “thriving” town.

Water Babies, a company which creates an environment for babies and very young child to feel comfortable in the water, is planning to open up at Mill Yard.

Nayna Patel, who runs classes in Bolton, said the proposal would see a small pool constructed in the building.

Mrs Kotecha said: “It was also very important to us that we introduce local independent traders back into the town centre. We want this to be seen as complementary to the other retail centres in Bolton, including the Market Place and Bolton Market, not in competition with them.

“It will be a strong and unique addition to the town centre at a time when there is major redevelopment planned all over the town centre. We are near the Market Place and not far from Church Wharf where a lot of development is planned as part of the town centre masterplan.”

The announcement about the development was made at Spice Valley to key business people.

Over the past two years structural work has been carried out on the former the car park building, which was closed by the council in 2014 because of safety fears.

Mrs Kotecha said: “We want to work closely with the council to make this happen. It is a huge project but it is unique and exciting.”