British Summer Time is coming to an end. Clocks across the United Kingdom will go back by one hour and Greenwich Mean Time will resume. The change is quiet, legal and easy to sleep through, until the morning arrives a little earlier than it did the day before.

Most people will gain an extra hour in bed. Mornings will be brighter for a spell. Evening will close in sooner, and the darker afternoons of late autumn will feel closer at hand.

“Clocks across the United Kingdom will go back by one hour and Greenwich Mean Time will resume.”

— Kings Journal

When the hour is given back

The United Kingdom makes this change on the last Sunday of October. In the small hours, two o'clock becomes one o'clock. Time is not lost. The hour is lived twice, then ordinary life continues on Greenwich Mean Time.

Phones, computers and many modern systems will correct themselves. Watches, oven clocks, some boilers and a good number of cars will not. Those still need a human hand, or Monday morning begins with the wrong time on the wall.

“British Summer Time will soon come to an end as the clocks go back an hour to Greenwich Mean Time.”

— BBC News

What to set before you sleep

  • Move analogue clocks and watches back by one hour
  • Check cookers, heating timers and car clocks that do not update alone
  • Allow for earlier evening darkness when planning journeys
  • Confirm timetables and broadcast times once Greenwich Mean Time resumes

A familiar return to standard time

British Summer Time puts the clocks forward in spring so evening light lasts longer. In autumn the country gives that hour back. The coming change is not a novelty. It is the return of standard time, used through winter until the clocks go forward again.

Travellers and anyone who works to a timetable should be alert in the days around the switch. A missed hour is rarely dramatic. A missed train can be. Set the clocks, take the extra sleep, and expect dusk to arrive sooner.