EZYCLOCK

Time in London

The current local time in London, United Kingdom — updating live, with the difference from your own clock.

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London time explained

London runs on Greenwich Mean Time in winter and British Summer Time in the summer, moving forward an hour on the last Sunday in March and back on the last Sunday in October. It is the one major city whose winter time is also the world's reference point: UTC is anchored to the meridian that runs through Greenwich, a few miles east of the centre.

London does observe daylight saving, so its offset from UTC changes twice a year. The time above already accounts for whichever is currently in force.

Reaching London

The London working day overlaps the whole of Europe, most of Africa and the New York morning, which is a large part of why so many transatlantic calls get set for the London afternoon. Asia is the hard direction: Tokyo and Singapore have finished by the time London is properly awake.

How this page works

The time above is calculated on your own device from the IANA time zone database that ships with your browser, using the zone Europe/London. Nothing is fetched from a server, and the offset shown is whatever is currently in force rather than a number typed into the page — so when a country changes its rules, this page changes with it.

The difference from your own clock is worked out the same way, comparing London's current offset against your device's. If your computer's clock is wrong, so is that comparison.

Frequently asked questions

Is London the same as GMT?

In winter, yes. From late March to late October the city moves to British Summer Time, an hour ahead of GMT, so for over half the year London time and GMT are not the same thing — a distinction that catches people out when reading schedules written in GMT.

How far ahead is London of New York?

Usually five hours, but not always. Britain and the United States change their clocks on different dates, so for a couple of weeks in March and one week in autumn the gap is four hours instead. Anything scheduled across the Atlantic in those windows is worth double-checking.

Does London observe daylight saving?

Yes. The clocks move twice a year, so the difference between London and cities that do not change theirs shifts by an hour for part of the year. The clock on this page reads the current rules directly and is always correct.