Budding stars bid for glory in Northampton as X-Factor auditions come to town

Producers for the ITV show took up residence in the former Internacionale clothes store on the ground floor of the mall between 10am and 6pm yesterday.

The X-Factor roadshow has been touring the country over the past fortnight , heading to towns that are not covered by the huge arena auditions - such as Birmingham or Manchester - in the hope of finding hidden talent.

Former winners Sam Bailey and James MacArthur were discovered on the roadshow in previous years.

Northampton College music student Sam Sumeray was shopping in the town when he saw the X-Factor auditions taking place in the Grosvenor Centre.

He decided to have a go - and gave a vocal rendition of Beyonce’s Listen.

He said: “I was in town anyway so I thought, why not give it a go.

“If I had have planned it, I would have brought my guitar with me.”

Around 30 people auditioned throughout the day - aged from 16 to 60.

An open mic event also took place at the Charles Bradlaugh pub on the corner of Earl street in the evening.

Engineering company storeman Gary Robinson, 25, came along to perform a cover of Walk the Moon’s Shut up and Dance With Me, with his guitar.

In previous years he has auditioned for Britain’s Got Talent and BBC One’s The Voice.

But the singer, who has played guitar for more than 15 years, has his fingers crossed after he said his audition went well yesterday.

The Northampton man said: “The music industry is so difficult to get into but if you don’t give it a shot and push yourself out there you have got no chance.

“I like my job, but music has been my career of choice since I was young.”

Entrants who impressed the talent scouts in Northampton yesterday could be in with a chance of making it to the televised auditions, where they would perform in front of Simon Cowell and a panel of judges.

Casting researcher for the X Factor Stephen Ridgard, who was at the Grosvenor Centre yesterday, said: “This is a great way for us to delve into communities that don’t want to travel to the big arena auditions or queue with thousands of people.

“Northampton was fantastic, we had some really good auditions, there is definitely some talent here so who knows.”