diff --git a/C4/Context.pm b/C4/Context.pm
index 1eb5f88902..07e81854bd 100644
--- a/C4/Context.pm
+++ b/C4/Context.pm
@@ -969,6 +969,21 @@ sub get_versions {
     return %versions;
 }
 
+=head2 timezone
+
+  my $C4::Context->timzone
+
+  Returns a timezone code for the instance of Koha
+
+=cut
+
+sub timezone {
+    my $self = shift;
+
+    my $timezone = C4::Context->config('timezone') || $ENV{TZ} || 'local';
+
+    return $timezone;
+}
 
 =head2 tz
 
@@ -981,7 +996,8 @@ sub get_versions {
 sub tz {
     my $self = shift;
     if (!defined $context->{tz}) {
-        $context->{tz} = DateTime::TimeZone->new(name => 'local');
+        my $timezone = $self->timezone;
+        $context->{tz} = DateTime::TimeZone->new(name => $timezone);
     }
     return $context->{tz};
 }
diff --git a/Koha/Database.pm b/Koha/Database.pm
index e97c794a45..802bdc5111 100644
--- a/Koha/Database.pm
+++ b/Koha/Database.pm
@@ -70,7 +70,7 @@ sub _new_schema {
 
 
     my ( %encoding_attr, $encoding_query, $tz_query, $sql_mode_query );
-    my $tz = $ENV{TZ};
+    my $tz = C4::Context->timezone;
     if ( $db_driver eq 'mysql' ) {
         %encoding_attr = ( mysql_enable_utf8 => 1 );
         $encoding_query = "set NAMES 'utf8mb4'";
diff --git a/t/timezones.t b/t/timezones.t
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..c5463dab90
--- /dev/null
+++ b/t/timezones.t
@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+use Modern::Perl;
+
+use C4::Context;
+
+use Test::More tests => 3;
+use t::lib::Mocks;
+
+$ENV{TZ} = q{};
+t::lib::Mocks::mock_config( 'timezone', q{} );
+is( C4::Context->timezone, 'local',
+    'Got local timezone with no env or config timezone set' );
+
+$ENV{TZ} = 'Antarctica/Macquarie';
+is(
+    C4::Context->timezone,
+    'Antarctica/Macquarie',
+    'Got correct timezone using ENV, overrides local time'
+);
+
+t::lib::Mocks::mock_config( 'timezone', 'Antarctica/South_Pole' );
+is(
+    C4::Context->timezone,
+    'Antarctica/South_Pole',
+    'Got correct timezone using config, overrides env'
+);