A year after unveiling its entry into the daily deals market in America, Amazon has today brought its AmazonLocal service to the UK.

Currently initially only offering deals based in and around London, the service is a rival to Groupon and other daily deals sites, and expands the range of products and services available outside the scope of those usually found on Amazon.

Early deals offered were typical for such sites, including a half-price meal for two, and a two-hour flying lesson offered at a 66 per cent discount, reported Pocket-lint.com.

Gordon Willoughby, director of Amazon Local for the EU, said: "Our aim is to be the place where customers can come to find anything that they want to buy online, so offering great deals from local businesses like restaurants, spas and theatres is a logical addition to the tens of millions of products that can already be found at Amazon."