If you want a divan bed, you can either buy a base and mattress separately or buy them as a divan bed bundle. This guide will focus on buying a divan bed with a mattress but if you just want a base then you can get cheap ones from places like Amazon, Divan Base Direct and Dreams or posher ones from John Lewis & Partners.
A simple divan bed probably isn’t what an influencer on Instagram tells you to buy. However, if you are capable of independent thought then they are well worth considering.
For a start, there’s a good argument that divan bed bases offer the best support for your mattress. Most bedsteads and bedframes are absolutely fine but some cheaper ones have huge gaps between the slats. That isn’t good news for your mattress. Posh brand Vispring go so far as to insist that you buy a special base with their mattresses if you plan to use them on a bedframe instead of a divan.
Divan beds are also good because you won’t end up in A&E after walking into the corner of it, unlike some wooden and metal beds. Plus, divan beds split in two so you can move them more easily when your spouse casually says “perhaps you should move the bedrooms round this weekend”.
On the downside, a divan gathers dust and is more difficult to clean than a bedstead. Also, some come in a very boring range of colours – although that’s certainly improved from the beige range you used to get.
We’ve picked out five of the best divan beds in the UK. We’ve chosen ones where you get a divan base and a mattress as a bundle and have tried to include a range of prices.
Prices are for a double divan base with a mattress and are correct at the time of writing. We didn’t include optional extras such as headboards or drawers.
1. Happy Beds Divan Bed With Majestic Pocket Sprung Mattress – medium tension – £309
Is this the UK’s most luxurious divan bed? Well, no it’s not.
However, you can make a strong argument that it’s one of the best value divan beds with a mattress that you’ll find.
For your money you get a mattress with a good specification and a divan base in a wide choice of colours (including a velvet option). That should help you find something to match the curtains. You can add various styles of headboard and drawers if you need storage.
The mattress is made using pocket springs. Suffice to say that pocket springs are what of us sleep on and they are far better than cheap mattresses which use ‘open coil’ springs.
The number of springs is certainly adequate for most people. You would get some benefit from a slightly higher number if you’re much larger than average.
A good specification for the money
Despite the low price, the mattress has other signs of quality. For example, it is double sided so you can flip it over. It’s also nice and deep at 25cm and it has got something called a ‘hand tufted’ finish. That means that it is held together in a way that makes it strong and durable.
You can choose from the standard divan bed sizes (single, double, king size and super king size) or more unusual divan bed sizes of small double/queen and small single.
The Happy Beds brands is at the budget end of the market but it scores 4.6/5 on TrustPilot.
Pros: big choice of colours, low price, several sizes to choose from, pocket sprung mattress, made in the UK, five year warranty
Cons: relatively low spring count, budget brand, platform top divan base rather than one with fancy springs of its own
Our Value Rating: *****
(Our five star rating means that we think it is exceptionally good value. Four stars means ‘very good value’ and three stars means a ‘good value’ product)
2. Silentnight Essentials Mirapocket 1000 Divan bed – medium tension – £609
A solid mid-priced choice for a divan bed and mattress is Silentnight. They’re the biggest brand in the UK mattress and bed market and have a reassuringly decent customer review score of 4.2/5 on TrustPilot (at the time of writing).
The specification of the mattress is quite similar to the cheaper Happy Beds mattress above and you get the same warranty length (five years, to quote David Bowie). It uses the same type of springs and has the same number.
Unfortunately, the Silentnight mattress is only single sided but you can still rotate it round to help it last longer.
It’s another mattress described as medium tension. Curiously, there isn’t an agreement between mattress brands about what that means. Don’t assume it will feel exactly the same as another ‘medium’ mattress. However, there are some general rules which are helpful. Firstly, if you’re heavier than average then you will probably need a firmer mattress than someone who is light as a feather. Secondly, if you sleep on your back you’ll need a firmer mattress than someone who mostly sleeps on their side.
What’s the divan like?
As with most divan beds, the base doesn’t have any of its own springs. That’s not really surprising, but it’s a bit of extra luxury on posher divan beds. It only comes in a couple of colours, which won’t suit everyone.
You can buy this divan bed in the usual sizes of single, double, king size and super king size. It also comes in small double which is sometimes known as a queen size divan bed.
Pros: big name mattress and bed brand with a good reputation, five year warranty is pretty good for this price, tension level will suit most people
Cons: single sided mattress, relatively low spring count, not a big choice of colours
Our Value Rating: ***
3. Hypnos Elite Deluxe Mattress and British Bed Company divan base – £629
I was unusually excited when I found this excellent value Hypnos mattress and divan set. The base isn’t made by Hypnos, but the mattress is. In my opinion, a better quality mattress makes a bigger difference to your overall comfort than a better quality divan base.
The Hypnos brand is an excellent one for several reasons. It’s based in the UK and supplies the royal household.
Their approach to mattress making is very much that of traditional quality. The focus is on natural materials, rather than layers of foam and endless marketing campaigns.
This particular model is towards the bottom of their range, but it’s still decent. You get 1000 pocket springs, which is not a vast number but is within my acceptable range (I reckon a mattress with 1000+ springs is sufficient support unless you are particularly large).
As it’s an entry level Hypnos mattress, you can expect it to have more synthetic fillings and less natural fillings. For example, it uses Solotex which is ‘a synthetic polyester derivative fibre‘ rather than more luxurious materials.
Another sign that it’s one of Hypnos’ cheaper mattresses is that it can’t be turned. Again, this isn’t my preference as double sided mattresses can keep going for a bit longer.
The divan base is made by British Bed Company. You can upgrade to a Hypnos divan, but it increases the price significantly.
Pros: respected mattress brand, which we consider to be at the luxury end of the market. Great choice of colours. 60 night comfort trial (with terms and conditions attached)
Cons: Basic design of base, only single sided mattress.
Our value rating: ****
4. Rest Assured Breeze 1600 Pocket Spring Divan Bed – medium tension – £807
This Breeze divan bed from Rest Assured is another decent mid-priced model.
The main difference between this one and the cheaper divan beds we’ve featured is that this one has a higher spring count. That means it will provide a bit of extra support for people who are heavier or larger than average. As an aside, don’t get too excited when you see a mattress with thousands of springs. You can only squeeze a couple of thousand full size springs onto one layer of a king size mattress. Something that boasts of ‘8000 springs’ probably has lots of layers of smaller springs.
This divan bed mattress has a top layer that uses a mix of wool (i.e. a natural fibre) with some synthetic fibers.
You can’t turn over this mattress
The standard divan bed base only comes in dozens of colours and is a pretty standard model without any springs of its own. You can upgrade to a Rest Assured base for about £100 extra but neither base has its own springs so I would expect them to have a similar feel.
When we checked, you could only get this divan bed in the most common sizes of single, double, king size and as a super king divan bed.
Pros: high pocket spring count, long established brand, uses wool which is an effective natural material for mattresses
Cons: single sided
Our Value Rating: ***
5. Vispring Elite Mattress and Divan Bed – soft, medium, firm or extra firm tension – £2770
Finally, please show a little respect for the Vispring Elite divan bed.
Vispring make ultra-posh divan beds and mattresses and the company have an impressive history. They invented the pocket spring mattress about a hundred years ago, which then became the standard way of making a decent mattress.
Believe it or not, this isn’t even one of their more expensive mattresses. Some Vispring divan beds cost two or three times as much.
However, this one offers a good balance of specification versus price. There’s a good number of pocket springs (about 1200), natural materials and several technical signs of quality. These are a bit too boring to drone on about at great length. However, it includes things like a ‘hand tufted’ finish and ‘hand side stitching’ which mean that it’s been built to last. That’s where the remarkable 30 year warranty comes from.
It’s all about the base
One other thing which sets this divan bed apart is that the base has its own set of springs. Most divan bases are simple boxes covered in fabric. A posh one like this has its own springs which are designed to work with the springs on the mattress.
You can choose from dozens of colours including shades of blue, yellow, pink and cream. It comes in the usual sizes of single, double, king size and super king. Unusually, it also comes as an emperor or large emperor mattress. That’s particularly good if your spouse wriggles around all night and keeps you awake.
Pros: outstanding reputation built up over many years, hand side stitching and other signs of quality, divan has its own layer of springs
Cons: expensive
Our Value Rating: ****
