A John Lewis mattress ranges from about £100 to £15,000. That’s right, you can buy mattresses that cost more than a small car.
But what’s the difference between their cheapest and most expensive mattress? What should you look for in a John Lewis mattress? And how many more rhetorical questions will I ask before I get to the point?
We are going to talk through the different ‘Mattress Collections’ available from John Lewis. These range from the cheap and cheerful John Lewis ANYWAY mattress collection through to the John Lewis Ultimate Natural Mattress Collection, otherwise known as the “I’ve Just Won The Lottery Collection”.
Step One. Understand the John Lewis mattress brands
John Lewis now has several ‘collections’ within its range, as well as stocking third-partybrands.
The Collections are an attempt to bundle together similar mattresses into eight categories, so you can narrow down your options quicker.
It’s quite confusing at first but here’s my easy-to-digest explanation.
There are currently eight categories under the John Lewis Mattress Collections umbrella including:
1. John Lewis British Natural Collection Mattresses (££££)
I’ve put this one first as the British Natural Collection makes up a big chunk of the mattresses available at John Lewis.
This is what you’d expect from John Lewis: high quality, tried-and-tested manufacturing techniques at a fair price. They are made by a Yorkshire mattress company called Harrison Spinks, which won best manufacturer at the 2018 National Bed Federation Awards. It is no doubt described as ‘The Oscars of the Mattress World’ by the public relations people.
The Harrison Spinks brand also featured in a BBC TV series called ‘Inside The Factory’ with that enthusiastic bald headed guy from Masterchef who enjoys trips to Harvester. The company also has a Manufacturing Guild Award, which is a good sign of quality
Prices for mattresses in the John Lewis and Partners British Natural Collection range are about £700 – £3000 for a double mattress.
The price of mattresses in this range is certainly not cheap, but it’s very easy to argue that the prices are fair considering the quality. You tend to get what you pay for with a mattress. You might get a modest discount occasionally but don’t expect the never-ending and slightly unconvincing “60% off!” deals that you get with some mattress brands.
The design of the British Natural Collection is pocket springs with layers of naturally breathable materials. The more expensive models have a higher number of springs. However, I always caution not to get too excited by massive spring counts. The number of full size pocket springs is important (1000-2000 is standard) but beyond that will include lots of mini springs that are more about comfort than support.
The other upgrade that you get as you pay more is a double-sided mattress. This requires a lot more materials and adds depth but can make the mattress last longer if you remember to flip it over regularly.
Go for something in the John Lewis British Natural Collection if you want a luxurious and high quality John Lewis mattress without bankrupting yourself.
2. John Lewis Ultimate Natural Mattress Collection (£££££)
The Ultimate Natural Mattress collection is basically the posh end of the British Natural Collection. They used to be one collection but they are now split into two.
Prices range from about £5000 to £15000 (gulp!). The mattresses in this range use loads of layers of springs combined with natural materials such as wool, cashmere and silk.
Honestly, these mattresses have a real money-is-no-object design to them with more layers than a Christopher Nolan film. There are mini springs upon larger springs, and lots of locally sourced materials. The spring counts are vast, but keep in mind that it is the large pocket springs that do most of the work. The mini springs certainly add to the total number and should make a modest contribution to the overall comfort but it is a bit like adding a few more pixels onto a digital camera – after a while the gains are smaller and less noticeable.
These are mattresses made in the traditional way, without any of this modern rubbish like memory foam (pah!) or gel (double pah!). (For the record, I don’t think either of those are rubbish, just that they wouldn’t be found on a mattress of this price).
But could you really bring yourself to spend £10,000 on a mattress, no matter how good it was and no matter how much money you had? I’m not sure I could.
Go for this one if you have run out of things to spend money on and want one of the most luxurious mattresses available in the UK.
3. John Lewis Climate Collection (£££)
This one sounds more like a protest group than a mattress collection to me. In fact, the word ‘climate’ refers to its ability to keep you cool rather than it being good for the planet.
There aren’t many mattresses in the Climate Collection but they cost about £900-£1300 for a double size version. They all use pocket springs but the more expensive ones have a higher number of springs. You don’t really need the highest number in the range unless you are larger than average.
These mattresses use less natural materials but have ‘patented phase change crystals’ to keep you cool. Don’t get too obsessed with mattress jargon – it’s a long and unrewarding road if you venture down it.
Basically, mattresses like this use memory foam, which tends to make you feel a bit warmer. Companies counteract this with clever designs. They give these designs impressive sounding descriptions to try and out-do each other.
I would go for something from the John Lewis Climate Collection if you like new-fangled technologies but tend to get too warm in bed (ooer missus).
4. John Lewis Classic Collection (££)
The John Lewis Classic Collection mattresses are mid-market, mid-quality and mid-priced.
They use traditional mattress making techniques of pocket springs with a comfort layer, but don’t go down the route of over complicating it. There aren’t loads of extra layers of mini springs or foam layers infused with Blah-De-Blah-Blah Technology (TM). Ray Winstone would call this a no-nonsense mattress. A newspaper would say that other mattresses are ‘woke’ compared to this one, without really explaining what they mean.
Nope, you just get a decent quality mattress from the John Lewis brand without spending a huge amount.
They range from about £400-£800 depending on how many springs you want. If you are light as a feather, then 1000 pocket springs will be adequate. If you are, er, less light than a feather then you will probably want to pay more for a higher spring count.
Go for something from the John Lewis Classic Collection if you want a straightforward and reasonably priced mattress without any bells and whistles.
5. John Lewis Waitrose Wool Collection (£££)
I’m not exactly sure why these ones have the Waitrose name on them as well as John Lewis. I’m aware they are the same company, but is the idea that you pick up a king size mattress in aisle six along with your quinoa and coconut water?
In terms of design and quality, they appear to be a posh version of the John Lewis Classic Collection. They use wool, as well as the pocket springs that you would expect to find on a mattress of this price.
Wool is naturally good at keeping you at a steady temperature, whether you get too hot or too cold in bed.
The design is fairly straightforward. There aren’t layers of mini springs or luxurious natural materials from rare breeds of goat. Some have two layers of springs but that’s about as fancy as it gets.
Prices range from about £700-£1000 for a double mattress in the John Lewis Waitrose Wool Collection.
I would go for one of these if you like traditional style mattresses with a bit of high quality flair and traceable materials.
6. John Lewis Ortho Support Collection (££)
Next up is the John Lewis Ortho Support Collection.
The word ‘ortho’ is thrown around rather liberally in the mattress market. It generally just means that a mattress is very firm, with a wink-wink implication that it will be better for your back.
The problem is that there is not really any reliable evidence that a very firm mattress is necessarily better for your back. We explore this in more detail in our guide to best mattresses for back pain and our guide to Is an orthopaedic mattress best for your back? The gist of it is that you need to find a mattress that supports your body shape. That might be a firm mattress if you are very heavy and sleep on your back, but it probably won’t be the best for your back if you are very light and sleep on your side.
Anyway, back to the John Lewis Ortho Support Collection. The official blurb says that it is a collection of mattresses that give ‘enhanced spinal alignment’.
In the case of the Ortho Support Collection, it doesn’t actually just mean the mattress is firm. In fact, they range from medium to firm.
The actual thing that makes these mattresses different from others in the John Lewis range is that the springs are ‘zoned’. This is a technique where you vary how the springs feel across different parts of the mattress. The idea is that you get the right level of support on different parts of your body.
This idea certainly isn’t unique to the John Lewis Ortho Support Collection. You find it in lots of mattresses, particularly modern foam mattresses.
The mattresses in this range cost about £600-£800. The more expensive models have more springs, which is beneficial if you are heavier than average but less of a big deal if you are lighter than average.
7. John Lewis Open Spring Collection (£)
I really don’t like open spring mattresses, even if they do cost as little as £150 from John Lewis.
They are what people used to sleep on before Vispring came up with the design for the pocket spring. Instead of sleeping on lots of little springs, you sleep on springs that are one long piece of wire twisted around a zillion times.
They are what your grandma had in your spare room.
If you are on a tight budget then I might consider an open spring mattress (also known as open coil, Bonnell or traditional coil mattresses). Although to be honest, I would go for a cheap foam mattress instead.
The only real advantage is that it is easier to recycle the metal in an open spring mattress afterwards as it is just one big wire.
8. ANYDAY by John Lewis (£)
This is John Lewis’ budget range of mattresses. It was previously called HOUSE by John Lewis. Perhaps Hugh Laurie fans were confused by the old name?
They cost about £200 for a king size when I checked. As a (very) general rule, you get what you pay for with a mattress so this is one to consider if you don’t have hundreds of pounds for a mattress stuffed under the, er, mattress or perhaps if you want a guest bed mattress. These usually come with a shorter warranty than the more expensive mattresses.
On the plus side, they do mostly use pocket springs and reviews are generally positive.
Go for ANYDAY by John Lewis if you want a budget mattress but still want a good shot at a decent sleep.
Other mattresses sold at John Lewis
So that’s the whopping great range of mattresses sold under the John Lewis name.
What about other brands? You can split these into two:
1. Foam mattresses made by trendy new brands (££)
These are called things like Simba and Emma. Most of these come with a 100 night or 200 night trial, so you can return it if you don’t like it. Instead of springs, these use a combination of different types of foams and generally cost somewhere around £500 – £800 for a king size.
2. Mattresses made by traditional and posh brands like Vispring, Hypnos, Dunlopillo and Tempur (££££):
- Vispring invented the pocket spring mattress more than 100 years ago and have remained one of the big names ever since. Warranties can be as long as 30 years. King size prices range from about £1000 to £5000.
- Hypnos make beds for the British Royal Family and have won awards recently at the National Bed Federation Awards. About £1000 to £2500 for a king size.
- Tempur were pioneers in memory foam mattresses after taking inspiration from NASA. About £1500 to £2500 for a king size mattress.
Step Two: Check the John Lewis mattress specification
I’m a fan of the John Lewis & Partners website because their specifications give a lot more detail than pretty much every other mattress retailer online. For nerds like me, this is useful information which explains what you are getting for your money, rather than the usual marketing waffle offered by an eager copywriter.
Things to look for in the specification section on a John Lewis mattress include:
- Depth: look for a mattress which is deep (in terms of size rather than emotionally). Deeper mattresses usually offer more comfort and provide more support than thin mattresses. They also cost more because they use more materials. 21cm+ is a good sign although it’s a bigger deal if you are a heavy person.
- Hand Size Stitching: this is the posher way of putting a mattress together and makes it stronger at the edges. Cheaper mattresses use machines instead of human beings. One day the machines will take over and we shall bow down before them. Until then we can say that human beings do a better job.
- Mattress turn: as a general rule, posher mattresses can be turned over so that you don’t get as many unpleasant saggy bits over time (an issue we all have to face). Cheap mattresses put the good quality stuff on the top and cheap stuff on the bottom. The exception is where a mattress has a topper as you can’t turn it over because the topper will end up on the bottom.
- Spring count: generally, a more expensive mattress has more springs. For lighter people, 1000 springs on a king size mattress provides adequate support whilst heavier people will benefit from a number closer to 2000. Where you see massive numbers (such as 5000 springs) there is more than one layer of springs. Take a look at the number of larger springs, as the smaller springs are just for a bit of extra comfort. Just to confuse you, the advertised number of springs always refers to a king size mattress but you can also find the actual number of springs in the John Lewis & Partners descriptions.
Step Three: Check the John Lewis mattress firmness scale
There’s no industry-wide agreement on what different mattress tensions mean, which creates a lot of, er, tension for the shopper.
But let’s raise a metaphorical glass to John Lewis & Partners who actually bother to tell you what they mean when they say that a mattress is ‘soft’ ‘medium’ or ‘firm’.
They recommend a:
- soft mattress for anyone who weighs under 8 stone
- medium mattress for people who weigh 8 – 16 stone
- firm mattress for people who weigh more than 16 stone
I assume these guidelines just relate to mattresses they sell with their name on, rather than third party mattresses.
**Search John Lewis soft mattresses**
**Search John Lewis medium mattresses**
**Search John Lewis firm mattresses**
Step Four: Rummage through the John Lewis & Partners ‘reduced to clear’ mattress section
John Lewis & Partners don’t generally do cheesy site-wide discounts (e.g. “50% off everything and DOUBLE discounts this SUPERSIZED bank holiday weekend! Must end Monday!”). However, they do have a reduced to clear section where there are a modest range of bargains to be had.
When I checked the John Lewis & Partners reduced to clear mattresses section there were about a dozen mattresses reduced by about 20%, including some really good deals.
Unlike some retailers, the discounts seem to be genuine rather than putting the prices up and then offering everything at a massive reduction to trick you into thinking you’re getting a good deal…
John Lewis & Partners also sometimes offer deals such as 20% off a big choice of mattresses for Black Friday or Boxing Day sales.
Step Five: Call ahead if you want a try a mattress instore
This may be obvious, but John Lewis & Partners don’t display every mattress in their stores so it’s worth checking if they actually have the one you want to try out.
When I checked, they were offering 119 different king size mattresses, so they won’t be able to display them all.
Step Six. Check which John Lewis mattresses have a trial period
A few years ago, John Lewis & Partners introduced a ’60 Night Comfort Trial’ with most of its own brand collection of mattresses. Some of the cheaper mattresses are excluded but it’s available with most of the mid-priced and posher ones. My hunch is that this was in response to a number of mattresses introducing home trial periods in recent years and the recent challenges of getting to a store.
Reading the smallprint is key with a mattress trial. In the case of the John Lewis & Partners 60 Night Home Comfort Trial you need to ‘purchase a mattress protector in the same transaction as your original mattress’ and pay a collection fee if you don’t like it (about £30 at the time of writing). You can then make an exchange for a different mattress but ‘full refunds are not accepted unless faulty’. They prefer you to go into the store to see a mattress specialist if you are planning on doing an exchange.
The good news
On the one hand, this is a very good thing for the purchaser as spending £1000+ on a high quality mattress from John Lewis & Partners is a big step if it turns out to be too firm or too soft for you. Several big name brands don’t offer any trial period at all. In the last few years, we’ve seen lots of newer brands offering trials on their foam mattresses but most pocket spring mattresses still require a trip to a shop or require a bit of a risk if you’re buying online.
However, it’s also worth saying that the trial period offered by several other mattress brands is better than that offered by John Lewis & Partners. For example, Emma and Nectar Sleep offer 200 and 365 nights respectively. Also, those mattress brands will pick it up for free and give you a refund if you aren’t happy. There are terms and conditions to such things but it is certainly appealing if you’re buying online.
