This is the banner outside Bow Baptist Church, a modern space stacked underneath a block of flats by the Bow Flyover. It's the fifth church on the site, rather smaller than the third incarnation which could seat 1000 Victorian worshippers, but still bigger than the original 1785 shack. I blogged about it when I went inside for Open House so that's not what drew my eye this time, which was SUNDAYS 10:30AM.
...and I wondered, what's the most common time for a Sunday morning service and why?
The Sunday service at Bow Baptist Church has been at 10.30am for at least the last 20 years. It's a good time for a service, not too early for worshippers to wake up for and all wound up by lunchtime. But is it the best time, or indeed the most common time, or do other churches tend to start their Sunday mornings earlier or later?
I went for a wander round Bow and had a look.
• St Mary's, the medieval parish church in the middle of Bow Road, also chooses 10.30am.
• Bow Methodist Church, the other side of the tube station, instead goes for 11.00am.
• Bromley by Bow Church in Community, who are United Reformed, also start at 11.00am.
• Our Lady & St Catherine of Siena, our Roman Catholic church, muddy the waters somewhat by having masses at 9.30am and 11.30am. The first one's 'Sung' and the second's 'Family' so targeted at two different congregations. If you're trying to fit in two services 10.30am is clearly suboptimal, but most churches just go the once.
For further data I scouted round all the other churches I could find in the E3 postcode district.
I have to disqualify the Hope + Anchor Community Church because they meet in the afternoon, this because they worship in a creative hub in Hackney Wick who don't tend to unlock before noon.
To summarise for E3: 9.30am: Our Lady & St Catherine of Siena (Sung) [1] 10:00am: St Paul's Bow Common [1] 10:30am: St Mary's ('Bow Church'), Bow Baptist Church, All Hallows Bow, St Barnabas Bethnal Green, St Paul Old Ford, East London Tabernacle, Tower Hamlets Community Church, Victoria Park Baptist Church [8] 11:00am: Bow Methodist Church, Bromley by Bow Church in Community [2] 11:30am: Our Lady & St Catherine of Siena (Family) [1]
10.30am is definitely the most popular time round here, outnumbering all the other service times put together.
I also checked for the village where I grew up, which would be Croxley Green in Hertfordshire.
That's a lot more varied. When I was a child I thought 9.45am was normal, not especially early, and it meant the All Saints' service was generally done and dusted by 11am so Mum could get home and put the roast potatoes in. I realise I've been conditioned to see 10.30am as late, whereas for many churches it's spot on.
Finally, for some variety, I've looked up some churches round Telford in Shropshire.
This is a considerably wider spread with no obvious peaks. 9.15am is the earliest time yet, but that's because the vicar at Christ Church also has to oversee at Hadley at 11am.
It's a very unscientific survey but if you combine all that data you get this graph.
Yes 10.30am appears to be the most common time for a Sunday morning church service. No need to wake up before 9, all finished by noon and the afternoon's your own.
Of course these days barely 5% of Britons go to church on Sundays, so are far more likely to be interested in what time the big supermarket opens.
But that's an entirely different survey.
Doesn't the incorrect Tesco sign demonstrate a good case for always using the 24 hour clock, particularly when midday or midnight is featured?
Richard | 15.03.26 - 7:11 a.m.
This is the Creme Egg part of the post, unlocked by a reader leaving precisely the tangential comment I expected. And it only took 11 minutes! I sometimes predict what someone's sure to say, sealing it in an imaginary red envelope and waiting. When it appears I add an envelope symbol ✉ to the comment and treat myself to a Creme Egg, this because someone's gone and been really obvious. I should say that anyone who writes a comment starting "This is probably the Creme Egg comment..." is instantly disqualified so please don't do that.
Anyway I thought someone would get excited by my local Tesco claiming to open at 12am on Sundays, because they obviously meant noon but have been wholly ambiguous, plus surely noon and midnight can't be either am or pm at all.
So to shut down the debate I've checked with the ultimate arbiters, the National Physical Laboratory in Teddington, and here's what they say.
If you work for my local Tesco please sort your signs out. And I am very much enjoying my Creme Egg thankyou. Now, back to church service times please...
This is the Creme Egg part of the post, unlocked by a reader leaving precisely the tangential comment I expected. And it only took 11 minutes! I sometimes predict what someone's sure to say, sealing it in an imaginary red envelope and waiting. When it appears I add an envelope symbol ✉ to the comment and treat myself to a Creme Egg, this because someone's gone and been really obvious. I should say that anyone who writes a comment starting "This is probably the Creme Egg comment..." is instantly disqualified so please don't do that.
