The UK will soon see 8pm sunsets again as the clocks go forward earlier in 2026. Clocks will move forward by one hour at 1am on Sunday, March 29, marking the official start of British Summer Time (BST). This is a day earlier than in 2025.
After a long winter with dark evenings, the change brings longer, lighter nights. In Liverpool, the first post-8pm sunset is likely to occur on April 9, according to forecasts. Currently, the sun sets around 4.30pm in the city.
The tradition of beginning BST by advancing clocks in spring was first established in 1916. The idea of maximising daylight hours was initially proposed by American inventor Benjamin Franklin in 1784 and later examined by British writer William Willett in his 1907 pamphlet 'The Waste of Daylight'.
In 1916, a year after Willett's death, Germany became the first country to introduce daylight saving time. The UK swiftly followed, along with many other nations involved in the First World War, according to the Royal Museums Greenwich.
Clocks will return to standard time on the last Sunday in October.
