A FORMER resident of a Bolton hotel where a skull was found has said she dreams of converting the dilapidated building into a care home.

Urban explorers made the gruesome discovery in woodland near the old Egerton House Hotel in Blackburn Road last week

Police later sealed off the grounds of the hotel, deserted since the venue closed in 2014.

Catherine Price, whose parents ran the hotel, said she would “love to get her mitts on it.”

She lived in the hotel with her parents, Desmond and Birte Deakin, and four siblings.

She often helped out, before moving out after getting married in 1979.

Catherine said: “I grew up there and as we grew up, my parents turned it into a hotel and they did a brilliant job of it. Dad sold everything to be able to open it and they both really worked at it day and night to keep it going.

“I think it is just such a shame that a place that has been looked after over the years has ended up like that.

“People have so many happy memories from there over the years and now it’s overgrown, has holes in the roof that leave it open to the elements and just gets trashed all the time.”

Catherine, who currently lives in Kent, works as a carer and believes she has the ability to turn around the building’s fortunes.

She said: “What I would do is take the main house, get it back up and running and turn it into a respite centre for elderly people.

“There are a few bedrooms there and it wouldn’t take much to fix them back up - it’s the rest of the house that needs work. It would be difficult to do but it would be perfect if it could.

“I could live in the barn and make that my home. I’m in the right profession for it and I would love to get my mitts on it.”

Two years ago, a 64-bedroom development was proposed at the site of the hotel. Plans were part of a joint venture between McDonald Hotels, which owns the building, and the McGoff Group’s New Care brand.

But Catherine is determined to re-acquire the building, one of many Bolton buildings the Deakin family owned in the 20th century.

She added: “I am focused on a way of getting it. I don’t know how I’m going to do it but I’d love to be able to. I’d employ Egerton people and help provide jobs there.

"I wouldn't let it become a place where people are waiting around to die. They would have good music, good food and a good environment - exactly how it should be."