•The temporal trends of the COVID-19 pandemic and the 1918–19 influenza pandemic in the United Kingdom were compared.•It was found that the ongoing COVID-19 wave of infection had matched the major wave of the 1918–19 influenza pandemic surprisingly well over the previous 2 months.•The similar characteristics of these two pandemics were discussed.•We also showed the years of life lost (YLL) due to 1918–19 pandemic. A comparison based on YLL would be more appropriate. We compared the COVID-19 and 1918–19 influenza pandemics in the United Kingdom. We found that the ongoing COVID-19 wave of infection matched the major wave of the 1918–19 influenza pandemic surprisingly well, with both reaching similar magnitudes (in terms of estimated weekly new infections) and spending the same duration with over five cases per 1000 inhabitants over the previous two months. We also discussed the similarities in epidemiological characteristics between these two pandemics.