Europe/London local date updates automatically.
Live city clock
Current time in London
London is a common reference point for Europe, finance, travel and cross-Atlantic scheduling. This page keeps the current local time, offset and daylight-saving status visible without relying on a generic GMT label.
UK legal time zone
London uses GMT in winter and BST during daylight saving time.
Browser-based live clock
How London compares with other key references
| Reference city or standard | Difference from London | What it means in practice |
|---|---|---|
| London | London local time is the baseline on this page. | Baseline for UK and many Europe-facing schedules. |
| New York | Usually 5 hours behind London; check DST transition weeks. | Useful for transatlantic commercial and support work. |
| Tokyo | Usually 8 or 9 hours ahead of London depending on UK DST. | Useful for Europe-APAC calls and release handoffs. |
| UTC | London is UTC+0 in GMT and UTC+1 in BST. | Best neutral reference for infrastructure and release notes. |
DST and UTC details
London usually runs on UTC+00:00 in winter and UTC+01:00 in summer because the UK observes British Summer Time. That seasonal change is why a plain GMT label can be misleading if you mean current London local time during summer.
Best hours for international calls
With New York
14:00 to 17:00 in London lines up with 09:00 to 12:00 in New York and is typically the strongest overlap.
With Tokyo
08:00 to 10:00 in London reaches Tokyo in the late afternoon. That is usually better than trying to call Tokyo from London late in the day.
With UTC-based systems
London teams often work directly with UTC in logs, release notes and backend operations to avoid DST confusion.
FAQ
Is London always on GMT?
No. London uses BST during the summer months.
What is the IANA zone name?
The correct IANA identifier is Europe/London.
Why use London instead of GMT in a meeting note?
Because London local time changes with DST, while UTC and GMT labels can create ambiguity for some readers.