BOOKMAKERS are offering odds of around 5/1 for a white Christmas.

A spokesman at William Hill said there had been a recent influx of people enjoying a flutter on snow on December 25 after reports of a band of the white stuff due to cross the UK. He said the closest Met Office testing site to East Lancashire was at Manchester Airport, where odds stood at 7/1.

But with the region being on higher ground, he predicted the chances of snow were higher.

He said: “Manchester is not necessarily one of the favourite cities, but it is a good price and it would be a shorter price for places in East Lancashire.”