Here are a few pictures from that famous year in Wigan.
9. It was so hot at the Wigan Observer premises that newspaper compositors were allowed to work in shorts. We note the guy in the foreground kept his socks on though!
. Photo: STAFF
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Wigan memories of the scorching hot summer of 1976
By Charles Graham
Published 27th May 2026, 15:45 GMT
Some good, hot weather has taken its time to arrive in the past week. But as the sun scorched down over the bank holiday weekend, those with longer memories can think back 50 years now to the famous drought of 1976. Interestingly it only started in late June (the weather having been pretty cool and wet until then), but then there was baking heat until the autumn, by which time there wasn’t a blade of green grass to be seen, standpipes were in the streets because domestic water supplies were cut off and folk were basking in 30-plus-degree heat most days.