Abbreviation Guide

BST vs GMT: What Is the Difference?

BST is British Summer Time. GMT is Greenwich Mean Time. The UK uses GMT in winter and BST in summer. Short version, but very worth remembering.

Plain-English Guide

BST vs GMT: What Is the Difference?

When the audience is broad, saying London time or UK time is often easier than making everyone decode BST vs GMT from memory.

TermMeaningWhen it applies
GMTGreenwich Mean TimeUK winter time
BSTBritish Summer TimeUK summer time during DST
Safer labelUK time / London timeWhen clarity matters more than jargon

Simple rule

If you write GMT for a summer meeting, double-check the date.

Watch out for

London time is often the simplest wording for non-technical audiences.

Better default

For engineering work, Europe/London is the cleanest unambiguous label.