Want a good night’s rest? Try sleeping in a bed shop
That’s what one high-end mattress company offers – just one of the ploys in the battle for your cash
AFTEr an afternoon nap in a beautifully comfortable bed, i remove my eye mask, peel back the duvet and ring a little bell on the bedside table. relaxing music plays as a member of staff brings a cup of peppermint tea and politely enquires how i’ve slept.
no, i’m not super-rich and staying in a five-star hotel. i’m testing a new breed of mattress showroom.
We spend a third of our lives asleep. Yet when buying a mattress, we usually have to make a decision in a matter of minutes, lying down self-consciously in a brightly lit room as a shiny- suited salesperson looms overhead.
The genius of The Bed room, the latest innovation dreamed up by retailer Button & sprung, is that you can take your time trying out the mattresses.
Customers can book a weekday slot in the showroom in Fulham, West London, between 10am and 7pm, stating preferences for type of music to be played and what hot drink they’d like (fancy italian coffee or more than 30 specialist teas).
When you arrive, you’re talked through the nine mattresses in the range (from £595 for a Borderdale king-size to £4,000 for a luxury Wensleydale). Then you’re shown up to the low-lit bedroom, where you can put them through their paces — alone.
duvets and pillows, ear plugs, bed socks and alarm clocks are provided. There’s even a kids’ area downstairs, with netflix and child-size headphones.
‘You can’t tell if a mattress is any good in a busy department store — it’s impossible,’ says adam Black, of Button & sprung. ‘if you’re a tummy sleeper, or you like to lie like a starfish, now you can find out how the mattress feels without anyone watching or judging you.
most customers stay fully clothed, although if you wear pyjamas (as i did), the staff won’t bat an eyelid.
This ‘try before you buy’ idea is just the latest ploy in what’s suddenly become an incredibly competitive market. The past four years have seen a mind-boggling array of fancy new mattresses from a huge number of brands.
There are futuristic foam versions by companies such as TEmPur, Eve, Leesa and Ergoflex; gel-enhanced mattresses from sealy and silentnight; and handmade spring-and-fibre ones from Vispring, Herdysleep and savoir.
rivalry is fierce, particularly between trendy memory foam companies and natural spring-and-fibre brands (‘Foam is a four-letter word,’ says adam from Button & sprung).
Faced with such stiff competition, almost all now offer customers a 100-night, no-strings-attached chance to change their minds.
so when it comes to deciding which mattress is the right one, you can now — quite literally — sleep on it.
Here’s our selection of the best long- term test offers for you to try…
PRESSURE OFF
Ergoflex 5G, £669 king-size (ergoflex.co.uk). Online only, with a 30-day home trial. From one of the first foam mattress brands, this Which? ‘best buy’ is designed for those with back problems and for athletes.
Three foam layers include a central cooling core that lets air flow through it, as well as an extra-deep 9cm top layer of highdensity memory foam for pressure relief and support.
ALL-NATURAL
Button & Sprung Perendale, £1,500, king-size (buttonandsprung.com).
Available to test in The Bed Room, and there’s a 100-night home trial.
ConTaining 8,800 pocket springs to provide comfort and support, as well as five layers of natural fillings including Egyptian cotton to ‘wick away moisture’. This also contains soft, breathable mohair and horsehair in a chemical-free cover.
KEEP YOUR COOL
OTTY mattress, £549.99, kingsize (otty.com). Available to try in the Leeds OTTY showroom, and some Next Home stores, with a 100-night home trial. CrEaTEd by a martial arts enthusiast to provide the very best in comfort at a reasonable price. The five squishy layers include foam, pocket springs and a ‘patented temperature-regulating’ cool blue gel to ‘soothe the body and aid sleep’ — great if you’re prone to night sweats.
MOULDS TO FIT
Leesa mattress, £699, king-size (leesa.co.uk). Available to try in West Elm stores (westelm. co.uk), 100-night home trial. insTEad of a soft, medium or firm option, this claims to have a ‘ universal adaptive feel’ that works for any body shape and sleeping style.
For every ten sold, one is donated to organisations helping the homeless, or people and children at risk.
CASHMERE CLOUD
Handmade wool mattress, £999, king-size (herdysleep. com). Available to try at Barker & Stonehouse stores nationwide (barkerand stonehouse.co.uk), with a 100-night home trial. madE in collaboration with luxury British mattress-makers Harrison spinks, this contains 6,000 pocket springs, topped with a soft blend of cotton, cashmere and ‘a full fleece of wool’ from a Lake district Herdwick sheep. The natural materials wick moisture away from the body, while being ‘naturally hypoallergenic’.
UTTER LUXURY
Savoir No2, around £10,050, king-size (savoirbeds.co.uk). Available to try at Savoir’s three London showrooms, with a 25-year guarantee. madE by the company which originally created mattresses for the savoy hotel in 1905, it boasts that this can be ‘ tailored to fit you and your life as perfectly as a made-to-measure suit’.
Combining extra- deep pocket springs with horse-tail hair, cotton and lambswool, it’s encased in hand-stitched ticking.
The softness/firmness can be adjusted for free within the first six months, or (for a small charge) over the life of the mattress.
HIGH-TECH FOAM
Eve Original, £699, king-size (evemattress.co.uk). Available to try in Debenhams, Next Home, Dreams, Bentalls and Fenwick stores, with a 100night home trial. THE ‘ bed- in- a- box, so- called because it arrives rolled up and boxed, aims to be ‘ the world’s most comfortable mattress’.
it combines three layers of foam including an ‘ evecomfort’ layer ‘30 times more breathable than conventional memory foam’ and a supportive base layer with seven ‘ zones’ (tiny cutouts) to provide ‘ pressure relief in your shoulders and hips’.
SLEEP WELL ON GEL
Sealy Activ Geltex Pocket Eurotop 2800, £979, king-size (sealy.co.uk). Available to try at independent showrooms (see website for details). Up to ten years’ warranty. a ComBinaTion of 2,800 pocket springs with geltex, an elastic gel and foam mix. it also features ‘Purotex microcapsules, which release friendly bacteria into the fabric of the mattress to clean up allergens, reduce humidity and create the perfect sleeping environment’.
TITANIC COMFORT
Vispring Magnificence, from £11,569, king-size, andsotobed. co.uk. Available to try at And So To Bed showrooms nationwide. Has a 30-year guarantee. madE by a company whose mattresses graced the first-class cabins of the Titanic, this claims to be ‘as good as it gets’ in terms of comfort. it boasts 2,812 vanadium steel springs in ‘individual sewn calico pockets’ as well as ‘a hand-teased filling of real shetland isle wool, European horsetail, cashmere and mohair. There are five rows of side- stitching that will have taken six hours to do by hand.