BST Time Now

BST right now

BST is British Summer Time, one hour ahead of GMT and UTC. The UK moves its clocks forward at 1:00 AM on the last Sunday of March and back at 2:00 AM on the last Sunday of October.

Outside that window BST is not in effect, and London is on GMT. UTC+1 is, however, the permanent clock of other places, such as Nigeria and Algeria, so the offset is still useful in winter.

When this page was last built (Friday, November 6, 2026, 12:00 UTC) it was 1:00 PM on Friday in British Summer Time. The offset for BST is UTC+1. The live clock above takes over as soon as the page loads and shows the exact current time.

Where BST is used

BST is used in the UK in summer; the same offset has other local names elsewhere.

• London
• Manchester
• Birmingham
• Edinburgh
• Glasgow
• Cardiff
• Belfast
• Leicester
• Lagos
• Algiers
• Kinshasa
• Luanda

Ireland follows the same dates but calls its time Irish Standard Time. Nigeria, Cameroon, Algeria and Tunisia use UTC+1 all year, called West Africa Time or CET locally.

Using BST for events and travel

Many UK events, from football kick-offs to TV premieres, are published in BST during the summer. An evening match at 7:45 PM BST is 2:45 PM in New York, 12:15 AM the next day in India, and 11:45 AM in Los Angeles. Fans abroad often need the exact BST time because the gap to North America changes for weeks in spring and autumn.

For India, the gap to BST is 4 hours 30 minutes. A 10 AM London meeting is 2:30 PM in Mumbai. In winter, the gap grows to 5 hours 30 minutes, so a recurring call fixed on Indian time will drift on the London side twice a year unless it is tied to a named city.

Travellers should note that the UK and EU change clocks on the same dates, but the US does not. Between the second Sunday of March and the last Sunday of March, and again between the last Sunday of October and the first Sunday of November, the London to New York gap is 4 hours instead of the usual 5.

BST means more than one thing

In the UK BST is British Summer Time. In Bangladesh it is Bangladesh Standard Time, UTC+6, five hours later. In Bougainville in Papua New Guinea it is Bougainville Standard Time, UTC+11. If a message about a Dhaka-based event says BST, it is not the UK one.

Another common slip is to use BST in winter. A meeting called “10 AM BST” in December makes no sense for the UK, because the clock is on GMT then. Senders generally mean “UK time”, and calendar systems usually interpret it that way.

For clarity say “London time” or give the offset, UTC+1 in summer. If the message is about a place outside Britain, ask which BST is meant.