Amazon Prime Now comes to London, giving one hour delivery in capital

Site has been trialling the almost-instant delivery service in the US, and it is leaving for the first time

A customer in East London receiving their Prime delivery, which comes in a paper bag rather than Amazon's classic cardboard box (Amazon)

Amazon will now deliver to London addresses in just an hour, as it rolls out its Prime Now service outside of the US for the first time.

Prime Now allows members of Amazon’s premium service to order select products and have them shipped to their address within the hour. It’s been available in the US since last year but the site is taking it outside of the country for the first time.

To get the deliveries, customers must be a member of Amazon Prime, which gives all customers next day delivery as well as access to the site’s streaming TV service. Customers must also spend £20 and then pay £6.99 for delivery or can get it free if they wait for two hours.

The tool is restricted to deliveries between 8am and midnight. It also only serves specific parts of Zone 1 — customers can check on a special website to see whether their postcode is covered — but Amazon says that it is looking to move deliveries further afield as soon as it can.

The service is also restricted to certain products. It was launched with the idea that it would be for covering essentials, like food and cleaning goods, but the site has gradually increased the range of products that can be bought.

Amazon launched the service in Manhattan in December, and has since expanded to cover Baltimore, Dallas and Miami.