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The Best Mattresses Guide

Simple advice on the UK’s best mattresses and beds

This site uses cookies - see our privacy policy. Ads & links in bold may give us a small payment from the seller, at no cost to the buyer. However, this never affects our views - if we like it, we recommend it.

6 tips for buying the best pocket spring mattress

Most people shopping for a good quality mattress buy a pocket spring one. Sure, memory foam and other types of mattress are popular, but most of us stick to what we know.

But that decision still needs narrowing down from a vast number of pocket spring mattresses on the market. You've got two options:
  1. Pick one from our recommended list
  2. Learn how to spot a quality mattress and then search one out for yourself.
​
Here are my six tips for buying the best pocket spring mattress you can afford:
Animal under a duvet on a bed
"I'm not coming out until you buy a new mattress"

1. (Some of) the best mattresses have won awards

OK, awards don't mean everything. After all, Mrs Brown's Boys was voted the best sitcom of the 21st century (apologies if you're a fan...).

However, if you're interested then the pocket spring mattress manufacturers which have won at the National Bed Federation's annual industry awards in recent years have included:
  • Vispring - their J Marshall No 4 mattress (£1089 in double, medium tension) was the winner in 2019 whilst the Vispring Plymouth Supreme 1200 (£899, medium tension) is a more affordable option.
J Marshall No 4 mattress by Vispring
Posh brand Vispring won a big award in 2019 for this mattress
  • ​Hypnos won best manufacturer in 2014 and were runners up in 2013 and 2018. Popular models with customers include The Hypnos Superb (£899, firm) and The Hypnos Swinton (£799, medium tension) 
Hypnos superb pocket spring mattress
The Hypnos Superb is a popular mattress from an award winning brand
  • Harrison Spinks won best manufacturer in 2015 and 2018. They make the John Lewis & Partners Natural Collection. Models with good reviews and specifications include the Egyptian Cotton 5900 model (£950, medium or firm). Harrison Spinks also make the Herdy Sleep mattress (£849, medium/firm).
John Lewis Natural Collection Egyptian Cotton 5900 mattress
Harrison Spinks is an award winner who makes mattresses for John Lewis & Partners
​Other recent winners include Millbrook which was named best small manufacturer in 2018 and Steinhoff Bedding Group which was runner up in 2016. They are makers of Myer’s, Relyon and Slumberland.

Another option if you're swayed by awards is to look at overall customer reviews for brands which specialise in pocket sprung mattresses. TrustPilot is the best website I've found for this sort of information, as most brands have hundreds of reviews. High scoring pocket sprung mattress brands include:
  • Sleepeezee scores 4.2/5 from customers on TrustPilot and is a mid-priced mattress brand, despite having a Royal Warrant (they supply Prince Charles' household). Sleepeezee mattresses which are popular with customers and which offer good value include the low-priced Backcare Deluxe (£275, firm tension), mid-priced Wool Supreme 2400 (£539, medium tension) and the top-of-the-range Mayfair 3200 (£859, medium). 
Sleepeezee Mayfair
The Sleepeezee Mayfair was runner up in the 'Bed of the Year 2019' category at the main industry awards
  • Silentnight scores 4.2/5 from customers. They're a huge brand which sells a range of types of beds, including plenty of mid-priced pocket sprung mattresses. Popular pocket sprung Silentnight models include the award-winning Sofia 1200 (£379, medium/firm) and the London Stratus (£479, medium).
Silentnight London Stratus
The Silentnight London Stratus is a popular pocket sprung mattress with a layer of memory foam for comfort
(For the TrustPilot reviews, we looked at the brand's overall 'Trust Score' and searched in January 2021. We didn't include some brands which just had a tiny number of reviews and we didn't include brands which sell dozens of other things, such as IKEA, as it wouldn't tell us a lot about their mattresses. We couldn't find reviews for some well known pocket spring brands, such as Vispring and Somnus).

Another option is to look at independent tests which are carried out on pocket spring mattresses. Award winners/those which scored very well include:​
  • Silentnight 1200 Classic Pocket Deluxe - £379 - medium/firm pocket spring mattress from the biggest name in the UK mattress market. Also called 'Sofia'. This one also gets strong customer reviews.
Which Best Buy Silentnight 1200 mattress
Silentnight is UK's biggest mattress brand - and this model is an award winner
  • Sealy Teramo 1400 - £599 - pocket spring mattress, soft/medium mattress so it's better for lighter people. Also called Nostromo)​​.
Which Best Buy Sealy Teramo 1400
Sealy's Teramo also goes by the name of Nostromo. It's another mid-priced winner.

Yet another option is to look for a mattress maker with a 'Manufacturing Guild Mark' which is an award handed out by the Furniture Makers Company. According to the blurb, it is 'awarded to British manufacturers that have demonstrated incredible standards across all areas of the business by successfully passing a rigorous, independently reviewed audit'. Awardees include:
  • ​Harrison Spinks which makes the John Lewis & Partners Natural Collection (as mentioned earlier) and the Herdy Sleep mattress.
  • Relyon, which is a long established mid-priced pocket spring mattress brand (about £300 - £1000 for a double)​

One final option for Royalists is to go for a mattress brand which has been awarded a Royal Warrant, meaning that they're used by royal households. The two main ones are:
  • Sleepeezee (mid-priced brand, 4.2/5 on TrustPilot and suppliers to Prince Charles)
  • Hypnos (mostly luxury priced, 2.9/5 on TrustPilot and suppliers to The Queen)

2. The best mattresses are (usually) the most expensive ones

Well, derrrrr...

Bear with me and let me explain what I mean.

Everyone loves to feel they are getting a bargain, but broadly speaking you get what you pay for with a mattress. Sure, there are discount codes and the like, but don't get sucked in by the big red sale sticker in the shop offering 70% off.

Don't get me wrong, a retailer like Furniture Village or John Lewis & Partners will sometimes 20% - 30% off a good quality mattress in a sale, but there are other bed retailers who seem to always have a massive sale on, which makes me suspicious.

In summary, a bed reduced from £2000 to £700 will most likely be a very similar quality to one which costs £700 elsewhere.
Sale sign in a shop
We all love a bargain, but the RRP doesn't mean much

3. The best mattresses have at least 1000 springs

Very cheap pocket spring mattresses try to get away with 600 springs. From the many guides I've read online, the consensus seems to be that if you can afford an upgrade to at least 1000 springs then you'll feel the benefit.

If you don't weigh a lot then 1000 should provide plenty of support, but if your idea of a balanced diet is a pie in each hand then you will probably want something closer to 2000 springs.
​
You will see mattresses offering silly numbers of springs (some go over 10,000) but the advantages diminish simply because of how many springs will fit on one layer of a mattress. This high specification mattress from John Lewis & Partners has 26400 springs, but most of them are very small springs to provide a bit of extra support rather than full size pocket springs.

4. (Most of) the best mattresses are hand tufted

Take a look at the top of a mattress and it will either by quilted (completely flat) or hand tufted (bumpy with buttons holding it all in place).

The very best quality pocket spring mattresses are nearly always hand tufted.

Now, before I get angry emails from quilted mattress sellers, it's worth saying that there are many high quality quilted mattresses and we recommended several in our guide to 10 of the best mattresses on the market.

My point though is that brands like Hypnos (the Royal Family's mattress maker), and Vispring make mostly hand tufted mattresses and they all offer mattresses which cost more than my first car.
​
I've also read compelling arguments of why hand tufted mattresses are better and more stable, but I won't bore you with excessive detail.

On the down side, bear in mind that hand tufted mattresses need turning regularly whilst many quilted mattresses are no turn. Not turning your mattress is convenient (I need two weeks of physio every time I turn our huge mattress) but most people say that a mattress that you flip over will flipping well last longer.

A no turn mattress may be a necessity of having a high quality comfort topper on the mattress...or it may just be a way of using cheaper materials on the bottom half of the mattress.
Quilted mattress
Quilted mattresses are flat on top...
Hand tufted mattress
...whilst tufted mattresses have 'buttons' to hold it together

5. The best mattresses have hand side stitching

Honestly, my attempts to turn mattress seller jargon into something in plain English had me scratching my head many times. I won't bore you with the details, but the summary is that something called 'Hand Side Stitching' is a sign of quality, whereas 'Machine Side Stitching' isn't so good.

It's to do with how much support your bed offers at the edges and there are two ways to work out what a particular mattress offers.

The first option is to visit your local bed shop and start sitting on the sides of all their pocket spring mattresses. Cheap mattresses bulge out at the side whilst the best mattresses won't. (I can't help feeling you might get thrown out of Dreams if you turn up with a tape measure and start measure the size of their bulges, but hey...)
​
The second option for spotting Hand Side Stitching is to look for it in the descriptions online, which is certainly less effort (although many websites don't seem to declare it which doesn't help). John Lewis & Partners is a shining example of a retailer which clearly describes how their mattresses are made.

As a general rule, if a company doesn't say that a mattress is Hand Side Stitched then it probably isn't, as it is something you would shout about. In the same way that you might assume that your local greasy kebab takeaway probably isn't selling organic, free range meat, unless it makes a point of saying it is.

6. The best mattresses have a woven cover

Here's another question which baffled me: Which is the best material for a mattress cover? I read so many guides about Belgian damask whatevers and woven fabric thingyamajigs and I was still confused.

Here's the summary to save you the dull journey I went on:

Don't buy a bed with a stitch bond cover. They are rough and unpleasant and are the kind of thing you'd see on a children's mattress at your local tip.
​
Beyond that, most natural woven fabrics seem to be fine - such as cotton or damask. There's also a huge range of mattress covers with silly names which sound like they were thought up by throwing scientific names into a hat and pulling out a handful. It's hard to sift the genuine scientific developments from the pseudo-science waffle on this one, so I would be cautious about buying a mattress just because it had a long name.

Related guides from The Best Mattresses Guide:

Mattress with colourful bed cover

10 of the best mattress retailers

Where to start your search for good quality beds and mattresses in the UK​
Model of a journalist

10 of the best mattresses of 2020/2021

10 mattresses which have won awards and rave reviews 
Teddy bear on a quilted mattress

Best mattresses beginners guide

Introduction to the guide which aims to deal with mattress muddlement​

Buying advice

Beginners' guide
​
Best retailers
Cheap retailers
Divan or bedstead?
​
How to choose a mattress
​John Lewis mattresses
​Memory foam or springs?

Best mattresses

Top 10 mattresses
Arthritis
Back sleepers​
Bed in a box
Best for bad backs
​Cheap mattresses
Cheap memory foam
​Emperor mattresses
​Best firm mattresses
Mattresses with free trials
​
Front sleepers
​Best for heavy people
​Hybrid mattresses
​Kids mattresses
Best latex mattresses
Medium firm mattresses
Top 5 memory foam
​Pillow top mattresses
Pocket sprung mattresses
​
Queen size mattresses
​Side sleepers
​Single mattresses
​
Single memory foam
​Small double mattresses
​Small single mattresses
Best soft mattresses
Wool mattresses
Zip link mattresses


Other guides

​Adjustable beds
Air beds
​Best bedding
Bedspreads
Blankets/throws
​Bunk beds
​Bunk bed with desk
Best carpets
Chair beds
​Cheap beds
Cot bed mattresses
​Day beds
Double beds
Double bunk beds
Double storage beds
Duvets
​Electric blankets
​Fitted sheets
Folding beds
Guest beds
Headboards
Mattress protectors
​Metal beds
Ottoman beds
Pillows
​Silk pillowcases
Silk pyjamas
​
Sleigh beds
​5 best sofa beds
Best toppers
Trundle beds
TV beds
Weighted blankets
White beds
​Wooden beds
​
​




Brands

Casper
Dormeo
Dunlopillo
Emma
Ergoflex
Eve
Hypnos
Nectar
OTTY
Sealy
Silentnight
Simba
Sleepeezee
Tempur
Vispring

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  • Home
  • Mattress advice
    • How to choose a mattress
    • Best Mattresses beginners guide
    • Memory foam v pocket spring mattresses - which is best?
    • 6 tips for buying the best pocket spring mattress
    • 5 tips for buying the best memory foam mattress
    • The 5 questions you need to answer before buying a bed
    • Is an orthopedic mattress the best for a bad back?
  • Best mattresses
    • 10 of the best mattresses of 2020 and 2021
    • By type >
      • 6 best pocket sprung mattresses 2020 and 2021
      • 6 best memory foam mattresses 2020 and 2021
      • 5 best latex mattresses 2020 and 2021
      • 5 best pillow top mattresses 2020 and 2021
      • 5 best bed in a box 2020 and 2021
      • 5 best hybrid mattresses 2020 and 2021
    • By brand >
      • By brand - A to E >
        • Casper Mattress
        • 5 best Dormeo mattresses 2020 and 2021
        • Dunlopillo mattresses
        • Emma Mattress
        • Ergoflex Mattress
        • Eve Mattress
      • By brand - F to R >
        • Hypnos mattresses >
          • The Premier Inn Hypnos Mattress
          • 5 best Hypnos mattresses 2020 and 2021
        • Nectar Sleep Mattress
        • OTTY mattresses
      • By brand - S to Z >
        • 5 best Sealy mattresses 2020 and 2021
        • 5 best Silentnight mattresses 2020 and 2021
        • Simba Sleep mattresses >
          • Simba Hybrid Mattress
          • Simba Hybrid Pro Mattress
        • Sleepeezee mattresses
        • Tempur mattresses
        • 5 best Vispring mattresses 2020 and 2021
    • Specialist mattresses >
      • 10 best cot mattresses for baby's beds 2020 and 2021
      • 7 mattresses for heavy people 2020 and 2021
      • Best mattresses for back pain and bad backs 2020 and 2021
      • Best mattresses for arthritis 2020 and 2021
      • 5 best wool mattresses 2020 and 2021
      • 5 best kids mattresses 2020 and 2021
    • By firmness >
      • 5 best soft mattresses 2020 and 2021
      • 5 best medium firm mattresses 2020 and 2021
      • 5 best firm mattresses 2020 and 2021
      • 5 best orthopedic/orthopaedic mattresses 2020 and 2021
    • By sleeping position >
      • 5 best mattresses for side sleepers 2020 and 2021
      • 5 best mattresses for front/stomach sleepers 2020 and 2021
      • 5 best mattresses for back sleepers 2020 and 2021
    • By price >
      • 5 best cheap mattresses under £200 2020 and 2021
      • 5 best cheap beds 2020 and 2021
      • 6 of the best mattresses with a free trial 2020 and 2021
      • 5 cheap memory foam mattresses 2020 and 2021
    • By size >
      • 6 of the best emperor mattresses, beds, bedsteads and divans 2020 and 2021
      • 5 best zip link beds and mattresses 2020 and 2021
      • 5 of the best small single mattresses 2020 and 2021
      • 5 of the best single beds and single mattresses 2020 and 2021
      • 6 best single memory foam mattresses 2020 and 2021
      • 5 of the best small double mattresses 2020 and 2021
      • 5 of the best queen size beds and queen mattresses 2020 and 2021
      • 5 of the best double beds 2020 and 2021
  • Best Beds
    • Divan base or bedstead - which is best?
    • Day beds, sofa beds and guest beds >
      • 5 best sofa beds 2020 and 2021
      • 5 of the best air beds 2020 and 2021
      • 5 of the best day beds 2020 and 2021
      • 5 of the best guest beds 2020 and 2021
      • 5 of the best trundle beds 2020 and 2021
      • 5 best chair beds and single sofa beds 2020 and 2021
      • 5 of the best folding beds 2020 and 2021
    • Bunk beds >
      • 5 of the best bunk beds with desks 2020 and 2021
      • 6 of the best bunk beds 2020 and 2021
      • 5 of the best double bunk beds 2020 and 2021
    • Wooden, metal and fabric bedframes >
      • 5 of the best wooden beds 2020 and 2021
      • 5 of the best metal beds 2020 and 2021
      • 5 of the best sleigh beds 2020 and 2021
      • 5 of the best white beds 2020 and 2021
      • 5 of the best leather beds 2020 and 2021
    • Storage beds >
      • 6 of the best ottoman beds and storage beds 2020 and 2021
      • 5 best single beds with storage and single ottoman beds 2020 and 2021
      • 5 best double ottoman beds and double beds with storage 2020 and 2021
    • Specialist beds >
      • 6 best adjustable beds 2020 and 2021
      • 5 of the best TV beds 2020 and 2021
      • 5 of the best cheap headboards 2020 and 2021
  • Duvets, pillows & bedding
    • Duvets and blankets >
      • 5 of the best duvets for summer and winter 2020 and 2021
      • 5 of the best electric blankets and heated blankets 2020 and 2021
      • 5 of the best weighted blankets 2020 and 2021
      • 5 best bedspreads 2020 and 2021
      • 5 best blankets and throws 2020 and 2021
      • 5 best wool blankets and wool throws 2020 and 2021
    • Pillows and pillowcases >
      • 5 of the best pillows 2020 and 2021
      • 6 best silk pillowcases 2020 and 2021
    • Bedding, sheets and toppers >
      • 5 of the best bedding sets 2020 and 2021
      • 5 of the best fitted sheets 2020 and 2021
      • 5 of the best mattress protectors 2020 and 2021
      • Which are the best mattress toppers?
    • Other guides >
      • 5 best silk pyjamas 2020 and 2021
      • Which is the best type of carpet material?
  • Retailers
    • 10 best places to buy cheap mattresses and divan beds under £500, £200 or £100
    • 10 of the best mattress retailers online 2020 and 2021
    • Buying a John Lewis & Partners mattress - 5 top tips for 2020 and 2021
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