“Buy the 7000 pillowtop if you want the best Aspire for a main bed, and the Pocket+ 1000 Memory if you want the most mattress for the least money. Most of the rest of the range is the same spring core under a different top and a different price tag.”
What the numbers in Aspire’s names mean
Aspire names its hand-tufted mattresses after their total spring count, but that figure mixes two kinds of spring. Every 3000, 5000 and 7000 model rests on the same 1,000 nested pocket springs, each 18cm tall with a framed edge, and the rest are small tablet springs in the comfort layers, 2,000 in a 3000, 4,000 in a 5000 and 6,000 in a 7000. The National Bed Federation’s buying guide says pocket spring counts “typically vary from 600-800 up to 2,500”, so the 1,000-spring core is a sound mid-market unit and the micro springs mostly change how the surface feels. The second half of the name tells you the top, either a flat hand-tufted face, a pillowtop stitched to one side, or two tufted faces that you turn over.
The table shows the hand-tufted line in its wool, cashmere and silk version, priced in a 4ft6 double on 11 October 2026.
The pattern is hard to miss. Aspire’s pillowtops sell for far less than the flat-topped models with the same springs, because every pillowtop carries a struck “was” price more than twice its selling price, £1,299 on the 7000 pillowtop double. An archived copy of Aspire’s pillowtop category from March 2026 already showed the same reductions, so read them as the normal price rather than a sale that is about to end. The 3000 Pillowtop and 5000 Dual Sided stay out of the ranking because the 7000 Pillowtop gives more springs for £80 more than the first and costs less than the second.
Pillowtop, flat top or dual-sided
A pillowtop adds a separately stitched, softer layer that cushions shoulders and hips, which suits side sleepers, but it cannot be turned and relies on rotation alone. A flat single-sided top, as on the 3000 models, feels firmer and suits back and front sleepers. A dual-sided mattress such as the 7000 Dual Sided has fillings on both faces and lasts longest if you flip it regularly, which is why it costs the most. Almost every Aspire is rated medium or medium-firm, a sensible default for most backs. In a randomised trial of 313 adults with chronic low back pain published in The Lancet, Kovacs and colleagues found that medium-firm mattresses beat firm ones on pain in bed and on rising, and concluded that “a mattress of medium firmness improves pain and disability among patients with chronic non-specific low-back pain”.
Rolled or delivered flat
The Total Relief, Pocket+ 1000 Memory and Natural Wool Pocket Eco Hybrid arrive vacuum-packed in a box, which helps on narrow stairs, and Aspire allows up to 48 hours for the Pocket+ 1000 Memory to reach its full depth. Aspire says ordinary pocket springs can lose performance, particularly around the edges, when they are compressed for delivery, and that it designed its Pocket+ unit to resist that. Aspire quotes 5 to 10 working days for rolled mattresses and 10 to 15 for those delivered unrolled. Standard delivery is free to the doorstep on the UK mainland, with a paid two-person service that carries the mattress to your room.
No sleep trial, and a guarantee that costs money after year one
Aspire offers no sleep trial. You may cancel within 14 days of delivery, but its returns policy excludes mattresses whose hygiene seal has been broken, an exception the Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013 allow for sealed goods that are unsuitable for return on hygiene grounds. In practice the decision is final once the plastic comes off. A faulty mattress is different, and the Consumer Rights Act 2015 gives you 30 days to reject it for a refund. Beyond that, the 5-year guarantee on every mattress here is free only in year one, after which Aspire’s guarantee page asks for 20% of the current retail price towards a replacement in year two, rising to 70% in year five.
