Getting good quality sleep is one of the easiest ways to safeguard our mental and physical health, yet so often a poor mattress can stand in the way of getting decent shut-eye.
Lumpy, uncomfortable beds that leave you staring at the ceiling well into the early hours have no place in your home. Luckily there’s no need to put up with a bad bed as there’s plenty of choice out there.
Before the invention of the coil spring in the mid-19th Century, people would sleep in groups alongside various family members on piles of straw, woven mats or cloth sacks stuffed with dried hay. Just the thought gives you fresh appreciation for modern inventions like memory foam.
As the technological evolution gathered pace the spring mattress was invented and, apart from a strange blip in the 80s for water beds, hybrid models that pair the support of springs with the cocooning cushioning comfort of memory foam reign supreme today.
These days your mattresses can be closely tailored to your individual comfort levels and preferences, whether you’re looking for orthopaedic levels of support or want a lusciously soft bed that makes you feel as though you’re kipping on cloud nine.
There are thousands of beds to choose from across a range of price brackets, which does make picking one challenging. That’s why we’ve put together this list of the best mattress brands, to help narrow the selection for you and make finding your new bed easier.
From mattresses honed with space technologies to beds fit for royalty, here are the UK’s best mattress brands to get the bed of your dreams.
See the list below
Ergoflex
Launched in 2006, Ergoflex is a mattress brand that caters to the UK, European and Australian markets. Its biggest competitor is the elite Tempur brand but while Tempur is available from a variety of stockists, you can only by Ergoflex’s memory foam mattress from the brand itself, swerving the middleman and their associated costs.
The secret to its thousands of five-star reviews is the visco-elastic memory foam later, a high density layer that moulds to the slumbering body, offering support, comfort and longevity. It combines with an open cell foam, a specially-designed Cool-Sleep layer and a breathable, vented TENCEL outer cover. The result? One single mattress that works for all.
The brand regularly runs discounts and sales, making a good night’s sleep affordable for all too. Prices from £385 for a single, and sizes span all UK bed sizes as well as Euro Double and Euro King.
Buy now, Ergoflex
Brook + Wilde
This luxury brand is your ticket to getting a hotel-quality bed at home. Choose between four mattresses, each with a 200 night trial, free delivery and a 10-year guarantee: there’s The Lux, The Elite, The Ultima and the priciest of the lot, The Perla.
In addition, every mattress apart from the Lux (medium firmness only) comes in a choice of soft, medium or firm giving you even more choice over your perfect bed. Complete the picture with Brook + Wilde’s collection of stylish bed frames, including ottoman styles for extra storage.
Flexible finance is available, making the premium mattresses more affordable by paying them off in monthly instalments.
Buy now, Brook + Wilde
Dormeo
Dormeo has been bringing Italian designed, European made mattresses into homes for the last two decades making it a modern sleep expert. It’s committed to making the very best mattresses for consumers because "everybody should sleep on the very best mattress they can afford". In fact, Dormeo’s products are so good that EL AI Israel Airlines uses its Octaspring mattress for cabin crew beds in its Boeing 777 aircraft.
While there are various models under the brand, each one bears a high-performance Ecocell memory foam core that supports the body throughout the night and regulates temperature to keep you cool as well as comfortable.
Choose from memory foam, rolled, hybrid, Octaspring, latex, pocket sprung, dual core and advanced mattresses in all standard UK bed sizes.
Buy now, Dormeo
Simba
Simba’s history starts with a spool of thread that became so widely used that according to the brand it came to be stitched into 50 million beds in more than 35 countries. Enjoying such popularity, the brand diversified into mattress design in 2002 and hasn’t looked back since. if you’ve not slept on a Simba mattress, the chances are you know someone who has or at least clocked its adverts on various TFL vehicles.
While it uses various layers of foam, it incorporates springs too, but the sort that would fit in a rolled mattress - to ensure it’s most convenient for domestic deliveries. And, alongside existing foam types, Simba innovated open-cell Simbatex memory foam, which facilitates almost 30 times the airflow of memory foam and is infused with graphite to draw heat from the body.
Today Simba offers four types of mattresses, which all come with a 200 night commitment-free trial period: bestseller Simba Hybrid (which comes in Luxe, Pro and regular varieties), a budget conscious Simbatex Foam, an eco-minded Simba organic and a bed for kids. There are also no-tool bed frames, bedding, pillows and duvets to overhaul your entire sleep experience.
Buy now, Simba
Emma
Starting life in Frankfurt, Germany, Emma mattress is now made in the UK and sells beds to 33 countries across four continents, making it one of the most recognisable sleep brands around.
What began with the tripe foam layer, the Emma Original soon spanned to include Emma Premium, which brought 12.5cm pocket springs to the slumber party, ideal for sleepers who need a medium firm level of support to catch their 40 winks. It arrives rolled in a box, making it easy to navigate through blocks of flats and up stairs to get it into perfect position. Like Simba, Emma also offers bed frames and sleep accessories including mattress toppers and weighted blankets.
All mattresses come with a 200 night trial period so you can really test it out before deciding if it’s a keeper. Emma is constantly running sales, bringing costs down to a much more palatable level - right now, the Emma Original is £249.50 for a single, down from £499.
Buy now, Emma
Nectar
A relative newcomer that began in 2017, Nectar has nonetheless racked up rave reviews for its line of mattresses. It sells its bed to consumers directly, which allows shoppers to always get the lowest price. It specialises in all-foam and hybrid mattresses but the real bargains are in the bundles.
They may be slightly more expensive, but they come with everything you need to overhaul your sleep experience and are particularly useful for first-time homeowners or renters whose contracts don’t include furniture. A bundle will typically include the mattress as well as the bells and whistles of a mattress protector, bed linen, duvet and pair of pillows. A one-stop shop, all delivered in one go - what’s not to love?
Buy now, Nectar
eve sleep
With cute marketing putting its sloth mascot in the spotlight, eve Sleep is another of the new gen mattress brands making a play for a spot in your bedroom. From the branding to the website, eve feels geared to younger millennial and Gen-Z sleepers, established in 2015 and with a focus on sustainability. The company is FSC-licensed, promises to source material sustainably and refurbishes and recycles mattresses sent back to it, giving many to charity.
The mattress selection is larger than most: premium hybrid, premium, original hybrid, original, lighter hybrid, and lighter. While each offers slightly varying benefits, they’re essentially all foam and hybrid mattresses, arriving at your door rolled for easier positioning. It offers a much longer trial period too, allowing customers to try it for a full year before deciding whether it’s your forever bed.
Buy now, eve Sleep
OTTY
Crafted in Yorkshire by young entrepreneur Michal Szlas who dreamed of the perfect mattress. The OTTY purports to overcome typical issues with memory foam in beds - heat retention - and combines it with encapsulated pocket springs, reflex foam and a Cool Blue Gel infused memory foam layer to a heightened sleep experience. This is furthered with supported and strengthened sides (so no nightmare sagging or tumbling off the side), a higher air flow and a removable and washable cover to keep kips hygienic.
Buying a mattress online can feel uncertain - after all, they’re rather expensive things. That’s why free trials are so vital in building shopper confidence, and while OTTY’s 100 nights is half that of other brands, it’s still plenty of time to gauge if the bed is one for you. Beds that end up being returned are carefully cleaned and maintained before being donated to charities and community projects.
Choose from four mattresses: The Hybrid Aura, The Hybrid Original, The Hybrid Pure and the Hybrid Pure +, with prices starting from £274.99.
Buy now, OTTY
Dreams
With 208 bricks-and-mortar stores, Dreams is probably one of the best known bed brands on the high street. The website is a reflection of their showrooms, and combined, the company sells roughly 14,000 mattresses, bases and headboards per week; what it doesn’t know about creating a cosy sleep environment isn’t worth writing about.
Dreams is owned by Tempur Sealy, so naturally its beds are front and centre in the shop window both physically and online. Its beds are so superior, they’re the choice for the world’s leading athletes: Dreams is the official sleep partner for Team GB, Paralympics GB and Special Olympics.
It owns its own factory in Oldham and makes in the region of 290,000 mattresses and over 200,000 divan bases & headboards a year right here in the UK, slashing its carbon footprint.
As well as mattresses and bed frames, you can also shop bedding, bedroom furniture and kids sleep products online.
Buy now, Dreams
Silentnight
Another prolific sleep brand, Silentnight offers everything from bedding, bed frames, duvets, pillows and of course, mattresses. The just sleep range is a selection of six rolled mattresses, and other collections include Eco Comfort, Essentials, Geltex and The Memory Collection. The selection is huge, with options to answer common sleep issues like back pain, kids mattresses including cot beds for infants and mattresses with dual tensions, perfect for couples who require drastically different firmnesses.
Buy now, Silentnight
Tempur Sealy
The billion dollar American bed brand is one of the most trusted names in the sleep sphere. The company has four brands under its umbrella: Tempur-Pedic, Tempur, Sealy and Stearns & Foster, each offering superior levels of comfort that have seen it earn fans from across the globe.
Tempur mattresses come in all firmnesses with a 100 night sleep trial, free delivery in mainland UK and 0 per cent interest for up to two years. Many Tempur mattresses include a layer of pressure-relieving Tempur material which was initially developed by NASA.
The best way to choose a bed is to consider how firm a surface you want to rest on and go from there.
Buy now, Tempur Sealy
Bed Factory Direct
If you’re looking for a mattress you’ll only use occasionally - for the spare bedroom, say - you may not want to fork out hundreds. And in those times, head to a budget retailer like Bed Factory Direct, where you’ll find options from as low as £69. The company offers interest free finance options on more expensive beds and you’ll bag free delivery for orders over £99.
As a stockist Bed Factory Direct has a huge array of mattress types under its digital roof: pocket sprung, memory foam, latex, orthopaedic, pillow top, adjustable, open coil, and hybrid, as well as a section for next day delivery mattresses for those who need a good bed in a hurry.
Buy now, Bed Factory Direct
Bensons for Beds
An investment in a new mattress is an investment in your future happiness and wellbeing, so it makes sense to get the nicest one you can afford. From pocket springs to memory foam and orthopaedic models, Bensons has beds by the truckload.
The brand offers a free five year guarantee (minimum) on its beds, mattresses and furniture, and there’s 0 per cent interest on orders of £300 or more. As well as its own-brand beds, it stocks some of the most established names on the market including Silentnight, Tempur, Sealy, Hypnos and more.
Buy now, Bensons for Beds
Hypnos
The proud bearer of a Royal Warrant, Hypnos supplies beds to all the Crown’s residences, including Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle, Balmoral and St. James Palace.
Its legacy can be traced back to the Edwardian era and it specialises in luxury pocket spring mattresses, using traditional and time-honoured skills by master craftsmen, helping to keep a disappearing industry alive. Each mattress is handmade in Buckinghamshire and options include wool, cotton, pillow top, luxury no turn, organic, and orthos support mattresses.
The luxury beds are widely stocked at stores like John Lewis, Dreams, Soho Home, Furniture Village, Wayfair, MattressMan and more.
Buy now, Hypnos
