When the clocks change: what it does to a night out in London

British Summer Time ends at two in the morning on Sunday 25 October 2026, when the clocks go back an hour. It starts again at one in the morning on Sunday 28 March 2027, which in 2027 is also Easter Sunday. Both dates follow the same rule: the last Sunday of October and the last Sunday of March.

The night you gain an hour

The October change is the good one, and it falls on the night of Saturday 24 October. At two in the morning the clocks go back to one, so the hour from one to two happens twice and the night is genuinely an hour longer. Licence hours are clock times: a room licensed to two or later still closes at the time on its licence, and on this night that time arrives an hour later than on any other Saturday of the year. The late rooms know it, so expect them to be busy and ticketed.

The Night Tube runs its usual Saturday night service, so the extra hour is covered on the lines it runs. The Night Tube guide has the lines and how often the trains come.

Late on Saturday 24 October

Two rooms already have that night published. Honcho at the Royal Vauxhall Tavern runs from 10pm to 3am, and when we checked on 14 September its tickets were listed as coming soon. Upstairs at Ronnie Scott’s, the Late Late Show with Alsogood starts at 10.45pm, tickets £15. More will be added as venues publish their October listings.

The night you lose one

The March change is the bad one. One o’clock becomes two, the night is an hour shorter, and last orders arrive earlier than your body expects. Anything you have booked for the Sunday morning will feel an hour earlier than it is, which is worth remembering before booking an early train.

What it does to the evenings

The practical effect is bigger than the hour. On the day the clocks go back, the sun sets in London at about ten to five; by the middle of November it is about ten past four, and for most of December it goes down before four. That changes what an evening out even is: the rooftop and outdoor listings largely stop, and the late museum openings, the theatres and the candlelit programmes take over. After the March change the sun sets at about twenty five past seven, and by the middle of April it is light until nearly eight, which is when the outdoor season starts again.