To help us provide you with free impartial advice, we may earn a commission if you buy through links on our site. Learn more
- Supportive, with excellent lumbar support
- Sumptuous pillow top makes this a great option for side sleepers
- Good temperature regulation
- Heavy to shift about
- Firmer than its “medium firm” label
Sleepeezee has held a Royal Warrant for over 60 years, and this quality certainly shows up in the Regency Kennington 4200 Pocket Sprung mattress. A traditional pocket sprung mattress with the addition of bamboo and wool, the Regency Kennington is definitely in the premium price bracket. It’s comfortable, supportive and a great choice for hotter sleepers.
While it’s firmer than advertised, I nevertheless found it to be comfortable and supportive: it’s a great choice for back and side sleepers, as well as those prone to getting hot at night. In short, it’s one of the best mattresses I’ve tested recently.
Sleepeezee Regency Kennington 4200 Pocket Sprung mattress: What you need to know
Although this Sleepeezee mattress contains a lot of natural materials, there are still some synthetic polyester elements. Let’s break things down. The Regency Kennington is a pillow top mattress, meaning its upper comfort layers are sewn into the top of the mattress a bit like a topper. Here you have a bamboo cover and comfort layer – bamboo being naturally anti-bacterial and fantastic for regulating temperature.
This is followed by a layer of wool – also great for temperature regulation – and a soft polycotton comfort layer, which sits on top of a layer of micro pocket springs, designed to adapt with the body’s movements. A “high density polyester support” divides this from the second set of micro pocket springs, which sit on top of a layer of individually wrapped full size pocket springs. In a double, there are 3,576 pocket springs, increasing to as many as 5,026 in a super king. Finally, there’s another layer of polyester to act as a base support. It’s worth noting that this is a heavy mattress: a double weighs 50kg, which isn’t that far off my own weight!
In terms of eco accreditations, the mattress uses “certified, traceable British wool”, while Sleepeezee is a carbon neutral organisation that holds a Planet Mark sustainability certification.
Price and competition
As you might expect from a brand with a Royal Warrant, the Sleepeeze Regency Kennington is not a cheap mattress. Prices start at £1,599 for a single, rising to £1,999 for a small double and a double. A king will set you back £2,299 and a super king is £2,499. You’ve also got a small selection of EU sizes: EU small single at £1,499, and EU single at £1,599.
Price-wise, this puts the Kennington up against the Simba Natural Hybrid Escape at £1,799 (double), the Origin LumbarCloud (£1,717), and the 22cm deep TEMPUR EASE at £1,200. Prices vary when it comes to mattresses made with a lot of natural materials, but they do tend to be on the higher side: for instance, the REM-Fit Natural Lux Hybrid costs £950 in a double, while the Hypnos Inspired By Nature is one of the most expensive mattresses we’ve reviewed at £3,600.
The Sleepeezee Regency Kennington is sold through Dreams, meaning you’ll get the benefits offered by the retailer. There’s a 100-night sleep trial but, compared to the trial periods offered by many bed-in-a-box brands, this leaves a lot to be desired. It’s exchange only (rather than a “money back” guarantee) and you’ll be charged £95 to cover the “collection and sustainable repurposing of the returning mattress”.
Delivery isn’t free either, which I think is a little cheeky for such a premium mattress. I opted for the ‘Room of Your Choice’ delivery service, which costs £49. That said, I do have to praise the delivery team: the service was excellent and the decidedly heavy mattress was delivered to our bedroom with a minimum of fuss. You’ll also get an email and text message the day before delivery with a two-hour delivery window.
Comfort and performance
Our standardised tests
I run the same series of tests on all mattresses I review for Expert Reviews, which you can read more about here. During my heat pad test, the temperature dropped from 50°C to 31°C after three minutes, dropping further to 24.5°C after 10 minutes. On the other hand, my body temperature test saw the temperature drop from 30°C to 22.9°C after three minutes, and to 21.8°C after 10 minutes. While these readings won’t rival the Dreams TheraPur ActiGel Glacier 3000 Combination mattress (the best cooling mattresses we’ve tested), they’re still good results. I should also note that I tested the Kennington in a rather warm room (with temperatures just exceeding 20°C). In real world testing, my hot-sleeping husband felt comfortable on the bed through the night.
I also carried out sinkage tests, by placing a series of weights on the surface of the mattress. Towards the centre of the mattress, at shoulder height, I noted 29mm of sinkage under 10kg of weights. At three inches from the edge of the mattress, this was 30mm. That’s quite a lot of give in the first instance, which I would put down to the pillow top style design of the mattress.
These results were similar to the Slumberland Air 6.0 Memory mattress – which also has plush upper comfort layers – while edge sinkage was comparable to mattresses such as the REM-Fit 5000 Lux Elite Hybrid mattress (previously called the 600 model) and the outstanding Hypnos Inspired By Nature 05 mattress that I reviewed last month.
Real-world testing
When it came to real-world use, lying on the Regency Kennington felt supportive all the way to the edge – though because of the softer top layers on the mattress, I did feel like I was sliding downwards while sitting on the edge of the bed. This isn’t pronounced enough to make you feel as if you’re going to fall off, but the structure isn’t quite as stable as some other mattresses. On the other hand, motion isolation was excellent, thanks to the cushioning top layers. I wasn’t disturbed during the night by any movements from my husband or foster cat.
Sleepeezee rates the Regency Kennington as a “medium firm” mattress, but my husband and I agreed that it leaned towards the firm side. Lumbar support is excellent, making it a great option for curbing back pain.
Perhaps surprisingly, considering that the mattress felt firmer than advertised, I also found it very comfortable for side sleeping. For context, I’m a lightweight person who usually lies in a combination of sleeping positions, and there’s enough contouring and give from the top layers to cushion pressure points.
However, I wouldn’t recommend it to stomach sleepers as I think the top layers are just too soft to allow for decent spinal alignment in this position. I would also add that, judging by customer reviews, the mattress might not be suited to those of a heavier build who are likely to sink too far down through the top layers.
As I mentioned above, this is a fairly heavy mattress, and it’s a godsend that there are handles on both sides to rotate it. Its pillow top design means you can’t flip it but, according to Sleepeezee’s own advice, “a non-turn mattress must be rotated from head to foot every week for the first three months and every month thereafter”.
Verdict
I’ve been testing quite a few pocket sprung mattresses recently, the quality of which has shown that – while modern hybrid bed-in-a-box designs can be a fantastic option – there’s still a place for more traditional designs. I loved the Sleepeezee Regency Kennington 4200 Pocket Sprung mattress and thought it was a fantastic option for light and average weight back and side sleepers.
Of course, this is a premium mattress and it’s not a cheap option but it’s obvious when you look and sleep on it that this is a high-quality product. If you have the budget, it’s well worth the investment.
