diff --git a/src/reactor/mod.rs b/src/reactor/mod.rs
index 18bd2b3c..d654dbb5 100644
--- a/src/reactor/mod.rs
+++ b/src/reactor/mod.rs
@@ -671,6 +671,85 @@ impl Remote {
     }
 }
 
+/// Retrieves a `Handle` for the currently running reactor
+///
+/// Having to pass `Handle`s around can be frustrating. This function will retrieve
+/// a handle from the current reactor when running on the same thread. This way, you
+/// won't have to pass handles around if using the `Tokio` event loop to drive your
+/// futures. As such, this function should be called from inside a reactor, otherwise
+/// it will return an error. This means that:-
+///
+/// 1. you should call it from inside a futures combinator or `async` macros (this
+/// includes `async_block`)
+/// 2. you should run any future that calls this method using `Core::run()`.
+///
+/// # Examples
+///
+/// A simple TCP echo server:
+///
+/// ```no_run
+/// extern crate futures;
+/// extern crate tokio_io;
+/// extern crate tokio_core;
+/// 
+/// use futures::{Future, Stream, lazy};
+/// use tokio_io::io::copy;
+/// use tokio_io::AsyncRead;
+/// use tokio_core::net::TcpListener;
+/// use tokio_core::reactor::{self, Core};
+/// 
+/// fn server() -> Box<Future<Item=(), Error=std::io::Error>> {
+///     let server = lazy(|| {
+///         // Get a handle to the current reactor
+///         let handle = reactor::current().unwrap();
+/// 
+///         // Bind the server's socket
+///         let addr = "127.0.0.1:12345".parse().unwrap();
+///         let listener = TcpListener::bind(&addr, &handle).unwrap();
+/// 
+///         // Pull out a stream of sockets for incoming connections
+///         listener.incoming().for_each(move |(sock, _)| {
+///             // Split up the reading and writing parts of the
+///             // socket
+///             let (reader, writer) = sock.split();
+/// 
+///             // A future that echos the data and returns how
+///             // many bytes were copied...
+///             let bytes_copied = copy(reader, writer);
+/// 
+///             // ... after which we'll print what happened
+///             let handle_conn = bytes_copied.map(|amt| {
+///                 println!("wrote {} bytes", amt.0)
+///             }).map_err(|err| {
+///                 println!("IO error {:?}", err)
+///             });
+/// 
+///             // Spawn the future as a concurrent task
+///             handle.spawn(handle_conn);
+/// 
+///             Ok(())
+///         })
+///     });
+/// 
+///     Box::new(server)
+/// }
+/// 
+/// fn main() {
+///     // Create the event loop that will drive this server
+///     let mut core = Core::new().unwrap();
+///     // Spin up the server on the event loop
+///     core.run(server()).unwrap();
+/// }
+/// ```
+pub fn current() -> io::Result<Handle> {
+    if CURRENT_LOOP.is_set() {
+        CURRENT_LOOP.with(|lp| Ok(lp.handle()))
+    } else {
+        let msg = "tokio_core::reactor::current() called outside of a reactor";
+        Err(io::Error::new(io::ErrorKind::Other, msg))
+    }
+}
+
 impl<F> Executor<F> for Remote
     where F: Future<Item = (), Error = ()> + Send + 'static,
 {