London

Europe • London

United Kingdom

Current local time

05:14:13

Sunday, May 31, 2026

UTC offset

UTC+01:00

Status

Daylight saving

Next transition

October 25, 2026 at 01:00 AM

Daylight saving timeline

Daylight saving

London toggles between daylight and standard time annually. Clocks fall back by one hour in 5 months (October 25, 2026 at 01:00 AM).

Daylight saving since

March 29, 2026 at 02:00 AM

2 months ago

Standard time resumes on

October 25, 2026 at 01:00 AM

in 5 months

30% through the current daylight saving season.

Timezone details

Identifier
Abbreviation
—
Transitioned
March 29, 2026 at 02:00 AM
Featured city
Belfast

Location

Latitude
51.50833
Longitude
-0.12527
Country
United Kingdom

Greenwich Mean Time (GMT)

FAQs

Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) is the baseline by which every other timezone in the world is measured, anchored at UTC+00:00 across 22 member zones spanning West Africa and Atlantic islands. Most of these zones keep GMT year-round with no clock changes, giving daily life a rare consistency while six of the UK / European members still spring-forward each summer.

  • Why is GMT called Greenwich Mean Time?

    It's named after the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, London, where the prime meridian (0° longitude) was established as the world's reference line for time and navigation.

  • Do all GMT zones observe daylight saving time?

    No — only the European members like the UK and Ireland switch to UTC+01:00 in summer, while African and Atlantic zones such as Abidjan stay on UTC+00:00 all year.

  • How many countries use GMT?

    Over 20 territories and nations fall under GMT, from West African capitals like Accra and Dakar to the British Isles and Iceland.

  • Is GMT the same as UTC?

    For everyday scheduling and clocks they are interchangeable, but UTC is the atomic-time standard that replaced GMT for scientific precision.

  • What makes GMT special for global coordination?

    It's the zero-offset reference; every other UTC shift is defined as a number of hours ahead of or behind GMT.

  • Which well-known cities run on GMT in winter?

    London, Lisbon, Reykjavik, Accra, and Casablanca all sit on UTC+00:00 for part or all of the year.