Time Zones in the United Kingdom

Time Zone Currently Being Used in United Kingdom

Offset	Time Zone Abbreviation & Name		Example City	Current Time
UTC +1	BST	British Summer Time	London	Fri, 5:17:41 pm

How Many Time Zones Are There in the UK?

The United Kingdom has one standard time zone. The overseas territories and crown dependencies of the UK bring the total to 9 time zones.

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Time Zone Not Currently Being Observed in United Kingdom

Offset	Time Zone Abbreviation & Name		Commences
UTC +0	GMT	Greenwich Mean Time	Oct 27, 2024

The above time zone is used during other parts of the year. It will become active again after the next clock change as Daylight Saving Time begins or ends.

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Time Zones Being Used in Dependencies of United Kingdom

Offset	Time Zone Abbreviation & Name		Dependency	Type	Current Time
UTC -8	PST	Pitcairn Standard Time	Pitcairn Islands	Overseas territory	Fri, 8:17:41 am
UTC -5	EST	Eastern Standard Time	Cayman Islands	Overseas territory	Fri, 11:17:41 am
UTC -4	AST	Atlantic Standard Time	Anguilla	Overseas territory	Fri, 12:17:41 pm
	AST	Atlantic Standard Time	British Virgin Islands	Overseas territory	Fri, 12:17:41 pm
	AST	Atlantic Standard Time	Montserrat	Overseas territory	Fri, 12:17:41 pm
	EDT	Eastern Daylight Time	Turks and Caicos Islands	Overseas territory	Fri, 12:17:41 pm
UTC -3	ADT	Atlantic Daylight Time	Bermuda	Overseas territory	Fri, 1:17:41 pm
	FKST	Falkland Islands Summer Time	Falkland Islands	Overseas territory	Fri, 1:17:41 pm
UTC -2	GST	South Georgia Time	South Georgia/Sandwich Is.	Overseas territory	Fri, 2:17:41 pm
UTC +0	GMT	Greenwich Mean Time	Saint Helena	Overseas territory	Fri, 4:17:41 pm
UTC +1	BST	British Summer Time	Guernsey	Crown dependency	Fri, 5:17:41 pm
	BST	British Summer Time	Isle of Man	Crown dependency	Fri, 5:17:41 pm
	BST	British Summer Time	Jersey	Crown dependency	Fri, 5:17:41 pm
UTC +2	CEST	Central European Summer Time	Gibraltar	Overseas territory	Fri, 6:17:41 pm
UTC +6	IOT	Indian Chagos Time	British Indian Ocean Territory	Overseas territory	Fri, 10:17:41 pm

History of Time Zones in the UK

The United Kingdom was one of the first countries to use a standard time for the whole country, instead of each place keeping its own local mean time.

The UK's capital, London, changed from London Time to Greenwich Mean Time in 1847.

GMT, or Railway Time, as it was known then, was first used by the UK's railway companies. Until 1972, GMT set the standard for standard for civil time worldwide. It referred to solar time at the prime meridian, which runs near the Royal Observatory in Greenwich. Today's world time standard, Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), is still located on the prime meridian (0°longitude).

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