Here’s our monthly rundown of the UK’s 10 best mattresses for July 2023.
We’ve made our selection via a combination of personal experience/testing, comparisons of thousands of customer reviews, mattress industry awards and microscopic analysis of specifications. We also take value for money into account and look at the on-the-day price for a mattress when we write the monthly guides.
Before the top 10, it’s worth offering a bit of advice:
The mattress market is ultra competitive and heavy discounting is common. Some mattresses are always reduced to varying degrees, so don’t get suckered in by the original price. Pay attention to the actual price and the specification.
If you want to read a bit about the pros and cons of different types of mattresses, have a look at our memory foam v pocket springs guide.
Prices quoted are for a double mattress and are correct as of July 2023.
1. Nectar Sleep Memory Foam Mattress
Current price: £519 (was £879)
Tension: medium/firm
First up in July’s 2023’s top 10 is the Nectar Memory Foam Mattress.
It was the first mattress in the UK to offer a 365 night trial, something which has now been matched by rivals including Simba Sleep.
It operates in a similar way to the Simba Sleep with the main difference being the lack of springs. This one is all about foam layers, neatly working together to give you a good night’s sleep.
Reviews for the Nectar Sleep brand on TrustPilot are consistently positive at 4.3/5 and it has also won prizes from experts.
The (almost) unique selling point with the Nectar Sleep Memory Foam Mattress is the ‘forever’ warranty. Of course, there are terms and conditions but it is still a remarkable offering for a mattress currently priced under £500.
Modern mattress shoppers are rightly concerned about the environmental impact of their purchase. Our campaign for better carbon footprint labelling found that 20,000 mattresses are thrown away in the UK every day. Only about one in five are recycled!
Nectar Sleep has a detailed sustainability and environmental page on their site. They say that the production of the mattress is certifiably climate neutral’. To achieve this, they ‘calculate the carbon footprint from our manufacturing process, find strategies to reduce this, and offset the remainder.’
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2. Emma Sleep Original Memory Foam Mattress
Current price: £428 (was £759)
Tension: medium firmness
Hot on the heels of the Emma Sleep Original this month is the Emma Mattress original. This is one that we’ve slept on a lot and we like it. It feels softer than the Simba Sleep and it’s a mattress that I look forward to sleeping on.
The Emma Original is half price this month, and there are other deals on the other mattresses in the range. As I mentioned earlier, sales and discounts are common amongst modern ‘bed in a box’ mattresses so pay attention to the reduced price more than the original price.
You’ll note that it comes in at more than £300 cheaper than the Simba Sleep mattress and around £100 cheaper than the Nectar Sleep mattress.
The design of the Emma Original is more comparable to the Nectar Sleep – it is 100% foam and combines layers for the full effect.
For the lower price, you do get a couple of minus points. The trial period is 200 nights rather than Nectar Sleep’s 365 nights. Also, the warranty is 10 years rather than ‘forever’. Honestly, I wouldn’t lose sleep over either.
Emma currently beats Nectar Sleep on Trust Pilot reviews by a whisker. As of July 2023, Nectar Sleep is on 4.3/5 whilst Emma Sleep is at 4.4/5.
We’ve got the single version of this mattress and find that its light and easy to move despite the handles being on the base.
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3. Silentnight Classic 1200 Pocket Deluxe/Sofia Pocket Sprung Mattress
Current price: £519.95 (up to 20% off)
Tension: medium/firm
The two mattresses we’ve featured so far in our top 10 have been relatively new-kids-on-the-block. Simba Sleep and Nectar Sleep are both impressive and deliver something very appealing – but you can’t beat history.
The Silentnight brand is much longer established and is a good choice in the mid-priced mattress market.
They have dabbled with the modern approach of offering trial periods, very long warranties and mattresses in boxes, but the majority of their offering is more traditional.
The Classic 1200 sits right in the sweet spot as a mattress with a decent specification and a good price. We bought one of these mattresses for my mother’s spare room after it won a big award from Which. We bought it around six years ago and it is wearing very well (albeit with below average usage).
The design is very different to the Simba and Nectar Sleep mattress. The 1200 springs do all the work, rather than layers of foam.
We also like it because it can be turned over. A lot of sprung mattresses at this sort of price are single sided. This can be because there is a topper in place, or it can be a money saving exercise.
Reviews are overwhelmingly positive.
I’ve seen this mattress being sold as a ‘Walton’ a ‘Sofia’ and a ‘Mirapocket 1200’. There doesn’t appear to be any difference.
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4. Simba Sleep Hybrid Mattress
Current price: £749.40 (was £999)
Tension: medium/firm
The Simba Sleep Hybrid is one of our top picks this month. We have slept on one of these a lot and have found it offer a consistent feel and excellent support. At the time of writing, you can get a 40% discount and free delivery.
Simba recently increased the length of its trial period to a whopping one year, matching a couple of rivals who had done the same thing. Previously you got a 100 night trial and then a 200 night trial before they went the whole hog and made it 365 nights.
The benefits of a one year trial
You may query whether there is really much to be gained from a one-year trial compared to a 100 night trial. After all, three months should be plenty of time to figure out if you like a mattress. Is it just marketing and keeping up with the competition?
To a certain extent it is, but there is a genuine advantage in using a mattress such as this for a whole year. The Simba Hybrid is a mostly-foam mattress. Foam can perform and feel differently in various conditions – most notably during hot and cold weather.
There is also the issue that some people find foam mattresses make them feel warmer than a pocket spring mattress does. I must admit, it’s not a problem for me, but year round usage will put the argument to bed for you. Read more in our comparison of springs v foam.
The specification and design of the Simba Sleep Hybrid is interesting. It uses very small springs alongside layers foam, whereas some rival mattresses use larger springs. The hybrid part of the name refers to this combination of springs and foam, but I would suggest that this micro spring design means that it leans more towards a foam mattress than a sprung mattress.
The Simba Sleep mattress is known as a bed in a box mattress, which really just refers to the way in which it is delivered. It’s a term which tends to be associated with mattresses which come with home trial periods and long warranties, but that’s not always the case. In this instance, you get a 10 year guarantee which puts it on a par with similarly priced rivals.
TrustPilot review scores for the Simba Sleep brand are currently 4.4/5.
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5. Brook + Wilde Sleep Lux Hybrid Mattress
Current price: £449.50 (was £899)
Tension: Medium
Here’s another award-winning mattress with a big discount in July 2023.
The Brook + Wilde Sleep Lux Mattress previously stood out from the rest by offering a bigger range of firmness levels. However, this has now been changed so that the Lux Mattress only comes in a medium firmness. The good news is that you can still but a Brook + Wilde Sleep mattress in a range of firmness levels. It’s called the Brook + Wilde Sleep Elite.
Despite this change, Brook + Wilde Sleep still deserves a place in this top 10. It tops our league table of mattress brands scores on Trustpilot (a near perfect 4.8/5 as of July 2023).
Most modern mattresses just come in one firmness level, which is pitched somewhere around the average body type.
There are some flaws to this idea though, as to gain satisfactory support from a mattress requires you to find one which is suitably firm for you. Finding your perfect mattress firmness requires you to look at a couple of key factors – the position you sleep in and your weight.
I’m simplifying things, but it goes a bit like this:
- An above average weight person who sleeps on their back = firm mattress
- Average weight person who sleeps on their back = medium/firm mattress
- Average weight person who sleeps on their side = soft/medium mattress
- Below average weight person who sleeps on their side = soft mattress
The complication is that mattress manufacturers don’t follow a consistent approach, so one firm mattress might not be the same as another. A trial period – such as the 200 night trial from Brook + Wilde Sleep is a good solution.
The Brook + Wilde Sleep Lux specification is very good for a mattress which is currently on sale at around £450. You’re getting full size pocket springs, as well as layers of foam which are engineered to keep you cool. Research has pointed towards memory foam offering a spread-out support which is a positive thing (see our guide to memory foam for details of the research I’m referring to).
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6. Happy Beds Majestic 1000 Pocket Sprung Mattress
Current price: £249.99 (was £413.98)
Tension: medium firmness
How about a budget mattress?
Thus far, our picks for a mattress have all been around £400-£600 once you take off the discounts, sales and special offers. Honestly, I think that’s a good budget for your main mattress if you can afford it.
However, what if you want a cheap spare mattress or you can’t afford £500?
This Happy Beds has a specification which I consider to be acceptable for regular use. 1000 springs is not stunning but it’s better than an old fashioned open coil mattress or most of the cheap foam mattresses sold around this price.
Open coil mattresses just don’t have the stability and comfort of pocket springs. I recently had a grim experience with an open coil mattress in a hotel. After three awful nights I switched to a pocket sprung mattress and instantly slept much better (read about it in the sleep diary if you’re bored).
It’s all a question of design. Open coil mattresses use one single piece of metal which shift around in one great big movement. Pocket sprung mattresses use many individual springs which don’t transfer movement quite so uncomfortably.
So where have Happy Beds saved money to offer a mattress at half the price of the others further up this roundup?
Well, you get a shorter warranty and you don’t get a trial period. If you don’t like it, you’re stuck with it. Also, 1000 springs is adequate but the 1200 springs of the Silentnight 1200 is certainly preferable.
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7. Silentnight 3 Zone Memory Foam
Current price: £216
Tension: soft to medium firmness
The second Silentnight mattress in our top 10 mattresses for July 2023 is a very different beast to the 1200 model featured earlier.
The 3 Zone model frequently teeters around the £200 mark in double but £172.49 is a great price in a time of high inflation.
We haven’t slept on this mattress but we can learn a lot from the colossal number of reviews and the specification.
There are no springs, so comparisons are best made between the Silentnight 3 Zone and the Nectar Sleep Memory Foam Mattress or the Emma Original Mattress.
It it half the price of the Emma Original Mattress but it’s also a lot thinner, which is where the corners have been cut. You also don’t get the long warranty and risk-free trial periods offered by Emma Sleep and Nectar Sleep.
But if you want a new double mattress from a long-established brand for a £170 budget then I don’t think you will do much better.
Customers give it an average review score of 4.2/5.
My advice would be that this mattress is more likely to provide you with adequate support if you are lighter than average. Two rugby players sharing this mattress will end up sinking in far too much to be comfortable and supported.
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8. Vispring Plymouth Supreme Pocket Sprung Mattress
Current price: £1539
Tension: medium firmness
You’ll have noticed that this mattress from Vispring is two or three times the price of others in our top 10 mattresses guide for July 2023. It has risen in cost a fair bit in recent months and years, but it remains an excellent choice. I haven’t slept on this specific Vispring model, but I’ve examined it in person at great length (I’m surprised they didn’t throw me out of John Lewis) and pored over the specification.
The Vispring brand is about as posh as it gets in the mattress market. They invented pocket springs more than a century ago and have been riding the wave of excellence ever since.
Believe it or not, this is actually a low price for a Vispring mattress. If you want one with a higher spring count then you’ll need to shell out for a Vispring Maristow (£3739 for a double mattress, 1700 springs) or a Vispring Woolacombe (£4839, 2000 springs). As a general rule, you will gain more from a higher spring count if you are heavier than average.
Honestly, there’s no such thing as a bad Vispring mattress. Quality materials and workmanship will be on display regardless of which model you buy. For example, all Vispring mattresses use hand side stitching. This is a manufacturing process that gives a mattress true strength to its edges. Some cheaper sprung mattresses and some foam mattresses don’t deliver that. That’s bad news if you end up being pushed to the edge of a mattress by a bed-sharer.
The warranty is worth shouting about. Vispring offer a 30 year warranty which was industry leading until Nectar Sleep came along with their ‘forever’ warranty. You will generally find that pocket spring mattresses have shorter warranties than memory foam mattresses, so the Vispring offering is particularly good. It’s also worth noting that Vispring has been trading longer than its warranties, which isn’t the case with a lot of mattress brands.
The Vispring brand has been named mattress brand of the year several times by Which.
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9. Sleepeezee Mayfair 3200 Pocket Sprung Mattress
Current price: £999.95 (save 25%)
Tension: medium
We’ve got a lot of time for Sleepeezee mattresses. They’ve got the Royal Warrant which you associate with the most expensive brands, but their prices start at a much more reasonable level.
This Sleepeezee Mayfair 3200 model is flying high at the top of their range but there are plenty of options around the £500-£700 mark if that’s your budget.
The 3200 number refers to the number of springs. It is tempting to assume that big numbers are always better with mattresses but it’s a bit more complicated than that.
When you see numbers above 2000 springs, it will mean that more than one layer of springs is being used. Some of these might be mini springs which perform a different function to full size pocket springs.
We like the fact that it comes with a Sleep Trial of 60 nights. This is something which is standard practice with memory foam mattresses but rarely offered with pocket sprung mattresses. However, it’s worth understanding that not all trial periods are equal.
In this instance, you can swap the mattress for another Sleepeezee model. The more generous trial periods offer a refund if you aren’t happy.
Our ranking of mattress brands on TrustPilot puts Sleepeezee in a mid-table position with a score of 4.3/5. However, that doesn’t tell the whole story as Sleepeezee is exceptionally high scoring amongst the traditional pocket spring brands. Most of the highest scorers are bed-in-a-box memory foam brands.
For this price, you get a mattress which is packed with natural materials including wool, cashmere and cotton. Natural materials like these are chosen for their breathability. Synthetic materials have attempted to emulate this ability to regulate your temperature but nothing beats nature.
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10. Hypnos Luxury Wool No. 1 Pocket Sprung Mattress
Current price: £1049
Tension: medium/firm firmness
I consider Hypnos to be a competitor with Vispring when it comes to quality mattresses. They tend to be slightly cheaper, but they use many of the same manufacturing techniques with an emphasis on natural materials.
Hypnos are also worthy of praise for their environmental credentials. In 2021, they were winners at the Bed Awards and were given the Sustainability Award for providing a “shining industry example of the need to take as broad an approach to sustainability as possible”.
This Luxury Wool No.1 model is certainly not their most expensive mattress, but it’s very well made. The spring count isn’t as high as some Hypnos mattresses but it’s a good balance of cost vs performance. If you are heavier than average, then I would be looking for a more expensive Hypnos mattress with a higher spring count.
They are sold by John Lewis and Partners which means that you can try one in store rather than relying on a delivery.
The wool layer on top is designed to regulate your temperature, as it has the ability to keep you cool on hot nights and keep you warm on colder evenings.
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The July 2023 league table – how do our top 10 UK mattresses compare on price, warranty, trial period and specification?
| Mattress name | What’s it made of? | How firm is it? | TrustPilot brand rating and current price (July 2023, double) | Warranty and trial period |
| Nectar Sleep | Memory foam and other foams | Medium/firm | 4.3/5, £483.45 | ‘Forever’, 365 nights |
| Simba Hybrid | Memory foam and mini springs | Medium/firm | 4.4/5, £599 | 10 years, 365 nights |
| Brook + Wilde Sleep Lux | Memory foam, 1000 pocket springs, 2000 mini springs | Soft, medium, firm or extra firm | 4.8/5, £449.50 | 10 years, 100 nights |
| Silentnight Classic 1200 | 1200 pocket springs, eco fibres | Medium/firm | 4.3/5, £410 | 5 years, no trial period |
| Emma Original | Memory foam and other foam layers | Medium | 4.4/5, £379.50 | 10 years, 200 night trial |
| Happy Beds Majestic 1000 | 1000 pocket springs | Medium | 4.4/5, £229 | 5 years, no trial period |
| Silentnight 3 Zone | 3cm memory foam layer, other foams | Soft/medium | 4.1/5, £172.49 | 5 years, no trial period |
| Sleepeezee Mayfair 3200 | Pocket springs | Medium | 4.3/5 £995 | 10 years, 60 night sleep trial |
| Vispring Plymouth Supreme | 1200 pocket springs, wool and cotton | Medium | 3.9/5, £1299 | 30 years, no trial period |
| Hypnos Luxury Wool No 1 | 1000 pocket springs, wool | Medium/Firm | 4/5, £1049 | 10 years, no trial period |