Most of the big UK mattress brands are already discounting in mid-October, so the Black Friday price is often only a few points below the price you can pay today, and the sales themselves build through the whole of November rather than landing on one day. The deals worth having are on a mattress whose real price you have tracked for a few weeks, sold with a refund trial long enough to put right a wrong choice.
When do UK Black Friday mattress sales start?
Expect the first Black Friday mattress offers in the first half of November and the last ones to run into early December. Some retailers dropped the one-day idea years ago. Bensons for Beds announced a “Black November” in October 2020, its chief operating officer Joe Wykes saying that “cramming everything into one day or one weekend is not what customers now want.”
The regulator has also shaped how long online sales last. When the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) accepted undertakings from Simba in 2024, Simba committed to 21 days at the full price before a discount of at most 10 days. A discount built that way has to end to stay genuine, which is why a brand’s Black Friday price can be gone within days of appearing.
Which brands discount most?
On percentages alone, the multi-brand retailers and the online brands that discount all year advertise the biggest numbers. We checked what each brand’s own website was offering on 16 October 2026, six weeks before Black Friday, so you have a baseline to hold November’s offers against.
| Brand | Offer on 16 October 2026 | Saving measured against | Trial |
|---|---|---|---|
| Emma | 25% off with codes, free products worth up to £509 | Emma’s own prices | 200 nights, free collection |
| Nectar | Up to 40% off mattresses, 55% off bundles | An average of “similar brands”, not Nectar’s own price | 365 nights |
| Simba | Up to 26% off for verified key workers, students, carers and some other groups | Simba’s own prices | 200 nights |
| Silentnight | 25% off the Dual Climate mattress | Silentnight’s own prices | 60-night comfort exchange |
| OTTY | 8% off orders over £400 with code AUTUMN26 | OTTY’s own prices | 100 nights |
| Dreams | Up to 50% off mattresses | Dreams’ own prices | Check per mattress |
Offers as shown on each brand’s UK website on 16 October 2026. Codes and percentages change without notice.
Emma and Dreams were already advertising a quarter to a half off in October, the level many shoppers wait until late November for. Nectar’s headline percentage is a different kind of number, because it compares with other brands’ prices rather than Nectar’s own earlier price. Nectar cut the figure from 65% to 40% after the ASA ruling covered in the next section, but kept the same basis, and the ASA added Nectar to its non-compliant advertisers list on 15 September 2026.
OTTY sits at the other end, with small codes for most of the year, yet even a modest OTTY reduction was ruled misleading in December 2025. Dreams and Bensons for Beds sell other makers’ mattresses, so an “up to 50%” banner there covers selected models. Compare the same model at the maker’s own site before you buy.
How to tell a real Black Friday mattress discount
A discount is real only if the higher “was” price was genuinely charged, for a meaningful time, to a meaningful number of buyers. In its discount and reference pricing principles of 1 August 2024, the CMA asked online mattress sellers to run a “was” price at least as long as the discount and to sell at least one mattress at the “was” price for every two sold at the sale price. Its evidence explains why. Across periods sampled from 2021 to 2023, four mattress companies sold only 7.7%, 1.6%, 5.5% and 0.9% of their mattresses at or above the reference prices they quoted.
Those exact ratios are no longer the yardstick. In the CMA’s case against Emma, the High Court ruled on 30 July 2026 that Emma had broken the law only in the breaches it admitted, and the CMA withdrew its mattress guidance for the time being while it considers the judgment. Emma had already admitted in May 2026 to misleading countdown timers, false “high demand” messages and misleading discount claims. The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) still tests each crossed-out price against what buyers actually paid.
| ASA ruling | What the ad said | What the ASA found |
|---|---|---|
| Simba, September 2022 | £919 crossed out next to a £588.16 “new customer price”, “36% off” | Shoppers would read £919 as the usual selling price, so the saving was misleading |
| OTTY, December 2025 | £799.99 crossed out, £724.99 with £75 off | Only 66 of 597 mattresses, about 11%, had sold at £799.99 since March 2025 |
| Nectar, August 2026 | “Save up to 65%” against the average price of three competitor mattresses | It “misleadingly exaggerated the savings consumers could achieve” |
Our guide to choosing a mattress adds a fourth case, a Dormeo “half price” claim, and the lesson is the same in all of them. Ignore the percentage and the countdown clock. Write down the price of the exact model in your size now, check it weekly, and judge November’s price against that figure. A bundle “worth £300” deserves the same scepticism, since the seller sets its worth.
Research on Black Friday deals in general points the same way. Of 175 home and technology products Which? tracked for six months either side of Black Friday 2024, 83% were the same price or cheaper on at least one other day, and none was at its lowest price of the year on the day itself. “Our research exposes the harsh truth: for the majority of shoppers, Black Friday is a false economy,” said Which? retail editor Reena Sewraz in November 2025. Mattresses were not in that sample, which is one more reason to keep your own record of the price.
What to buy at full price anyway
A refund trial protects you from the costliest mistake, and no Black Friday percentage does. On a £900 double, 15% off saves £135. Choose the wrong firmness with no refund route and the whole £900 is gone. A mattress you are confident in, sold with a generous refund trial, is therefore worth buying in October at the full price rather than waiting for a sale on something you are unsure of.
Read the trial terms that apply to sale orders too. Nectar refunds a returned mattress less the value of any promotional items you received with it, after a minimum of 30 days, so free pillows in a bundle are not free if the mattress goes back. Emma’s 200-night trial runs from the day of delivery with free collection. Our guide to choosing a mattress sets the main brands’ trials side by side.
The Simba Hybrid is the mattress we would buy now rather than wait for. It costs £899 in a UK double. Its 200-night trial with free collection means that if medium-firm turns out to be wrong for you, finding out costs a phone call, not the price of the mattress.
Simba Hybrid Mattress
The Simba Hybrid is a 25cm medium-firm mattress pairing 1,900 Aerocoil microsprings with a nine-zone foam base, for most sleepers.
On a tight budget, the sale matters least
The cheaper the mattress, the less a percentage is worth in pounds. A 20% discount on a £200 double is £40, which is little reason to spend six more weeks on a mattress that already hurts. For a budget double the better saving is choosing well, not waiting.
The Aspire Pocket+ 1000 Memory is the one we would choose under £250. It is made in the UK, puts a memory foam layer over 1,000 pocket springs in a 22cm rolled mattress with a medium feel, and costs £199 in a double. Check the returns terms before you order, since budget mattresses rarely come with the long refund trials of the boxed brands.
Aspire Pocket+ 1000 Memory
A UK-made 22cm rolled hybrid with memory foam over 1,000 pocket springs, for couples on a budget.
Black Friday mattress checklist
- Decide the mattress before the sale. Size, firmness and construction come first, with our best mattresses ranking or the best mattresses in a box as a shortlist.
- Record today’s price for your exact model and size, and check it weekly until you buy.
- Read what the saving is measured against. A comparison with other brands’ prices or an RRP is not a reduction on the seller’s own price.
- Ignore countdown clocks. Emma admitted in 2026 that its timers misled buyers.
- Value a bundle at what you would pay for the extras, and check whether they are deducted if you return the mattress.
- Confirm the trial covers sale orders, whether it gives a refund or only an exchange, and who pays for collection.
- Check the size is British. A UK double is 135x190, and some brands also list a 140x200 “EU double” that will not fit a UK frame.
- Check the delivery date before you pay, plus the removal service if the old mattress has to go on a set day.
Live Black Friday mattress deals
We will list the Black Friday 2026 mattress deals here from the start of the sale, checked against the October prices in the table above, so you can see which offers are genuinely lower. Until then, our mattress discount codes page carries the current codes, and each brand page keeps its own offers up to date: Emma, Simba, Nectar, OTTY, Silentnight, Dreams, Bensons for Beds and Aspire.
Frequently asked questions
When is Black Friday 2026 in the UK?
Black Friday 2026 is on Friday 27 November and Cyber Monday on 30 November. Mattress sales usually start one to three weeks earlier and often run into the first week of December. We will list the mattress deals on this page from the start of the sale.
Is Black Friday the cheapest time to buy a mattress?
Not reliably. Several big mattress brands were already offering 25% to 50% off in mid-October 2026, so the Black Friday price is often only a small step below the autumn one.
Do Black Friday mattresses still come with a home trial?
Usually, but read the terms for sale orders. Nectar deducts the value of promotional items from a refund, and some retailers offer an exchange rather than your money back.
Is Nectar’s “up to 40% off” a real discount?
Not in the usual sense, because it is measured against other brands’ prices, as the ASA rulings above explain.
Should I wait for Black Friday if my mattress is worn out?
Only if the wait is short and you have already priced the mattress you want.
Our verdict
Black Friday 2026 is a good time to buy a mattress you have already chosen and priced, and a poor time to choose one. Settle the size, firmness and build first, note today’s price, and treat any percentage measured against someone else’s price, or with a clock attached, as marketing. If November’s price beats the one you wrote down, buy then. If not, a mattress with a long refund trial bought at the full price is still a safer purchase than a deeper discount on one you cannot send back.
