Torn between memory foam and pocket springs, and still keen on a mattress you can turn over? This is the bed I'd point you to. Bodyshape is Mattress Online's own brand, and the Boost 1000 Pocket Memory sits beside the plain Boost in its double-sided line: the same 25cm build and 1,000 pocket springs, with a layer of memory foam added under the quilted cover. It fills the gap for somebody who wants that slow memory-foam hug without giving up springs or a bed you can flip. Lie on your side and your shoulder presses into the foam and stays there for a moment, then the springs underneath catch your hip and keep it level with the rest of you.
That foam layer is what changes the feel against the Bodyshape Boost 1000 Pocket. Underneath, the two are the same bed, Medium and turnable, so the first question is how you want the top to feel. I think the foam earns its place. Memory foam over pocket springs on a mattress you can still flip is a rare find at this money, and you get springs that keep you level with that slow hold on top. Hot sleepers are the group I'd keep off it first, and I'll come to them.
It suits side sleepers of average weight or a little under, who'll feel the foam ease the pressure at the shoulder, and couples who wake each other up turning over. My partner is the turner in our house, and the duvet thief, so I know which of those two problems memory foam solves: it soaks up the movement far better than a fibre top does. Back sleepers of average weight get on with it too, because the foam gives at the shoulder while the springs stop you sinking any further. Restless combination sleepers are better off on the plain Boost, since foam slows you down every time you roll, and anyone over about eighteen stone needs firmer support and more springs than a Medium with 1,000 can offer.
Pocket springs, a soft top and a mattress you can turn over are most of what I'd ask from any bed, and this one has all three with a layer of memory foam added. Bodyshape is the shop's own label, so what you pay goes on that build rather than on a name, and that's where the value comes from. If you sleep cool and like to be held rather than float on top, buy it.
Boost 1000 Pocket Memory or the plain Boost 1000?
Lie on the plain Boost and you're on soft fibres quilted over springs, so the surface pushes back straight away and you move about on top of it. This one gives first. The foam softens under the warmth and weight of your hip, takes its shape and lets go slowly when you turn, which is lovely on pressure points and less lovely if you change position all night. Both are graded Medium and sit on the same count of springs, so the support underneath matches. This one simply feels softer on top and soaks up more movement.
Two practical points matter beyond the feel. The guarantee on this bed is one year, shorter than the plain Boost's, and a guarantee is mostly reassurance anyway: what keeps a mattress going is turning it, and you can turn this one. Look after it with a protector and a sound base. The plain Boost is built with a reinforced border. Sharing a double? Ask Mattress Online whether this one has the same edge before you order. A double is tight for two, and if the border gives when you sit or lie near it, you both end up squeezed into the middle.
Memory foam runs warm, so hot sleepers take the plain Boost
Memory foam keeps your body heat close, and Mattress Online says as much itself, calling it "a natural insulator" and selling the warmth as a winter comfort. The two vents in the border let a little air move through the fillings. They don't take the heat out of foam lying right under you, and I warn hot sleepers about memory foam every time for exactly this reason.
Expect it to feel pleasant when you get in and warm an hour or two later. If you're always cold, that's a perk. Kick the covers off most nights and you'll get on better with the Bodyshape Boost 1000 Pocket, which keeps the springs and the flip and swaps the foam for a fibre top that lets the heat go.
A thousand pocket springs, light but the right kind
There are 1,000 pocket springs in the core of the mattress, each wrapped in fabric so it can move on its own without tugging at the springs beside it, and the bed is made to be slept on either way up. I'd call a thousand on the low side. It's still a decent unit, because pocket springs are the kind I'd choose every time, but it's why heavier sleepers should look further up the range.
Above the springs sit soft white fibres and the memory foam, under a micro-quilted stretch knit cover that's stitched flat, with no pillow top on it, which is how I like them. It's made in England, which is nice to know, but I buy on springs and fillings, never on where the stitching happened.
Medium suits most people. Mattress Online points back sleepers who want firmer at the Bodyshape Ultra Ortho 1500 Pocket, and to my mind that's the wrong steer for most of them. A harder bed won't do your back any favours, and Extra Firm only suits heavy back and front sleepers, not everyone who sleeps facing the ceiling.
Flip it every few months, and check the slats
It's double-sided with four handles stitched into the border, and the handles are for turning it over, not for carrying it. A double weighs 29kg and a king 33kg, so turning the bigger sizes is a job for two. It's 25cm deep, so check your fitted sheets have pockets at least that deep before it arrives. Check the slats under it too: if they're more than about seven centimetres apart, that gap is what I'd blame first for any dip, ahead of the mattress.
King and super king come by two-man delivery, so book a day you'll be in and pay for room of choice if your stairs are tight. The price moves up and down several times a year, so wait for the lower level before you buy. One owner shopped around the big chains before buying from Mattress Online and says they're now "sleeping like a baby", which tells you more about the deal than the foam.
If the foam turns out too warm for you, the 100-Night Comfort Trial is your way out, and it works as an exchange: they swap the bed for another one. You'll need to buy Mattress Online's own protector with the mattress, and they ask you to sleep on it for about a month before they'll swap it. I'm no fan of protectors, since they cut down how well a mattress breathes, but here it's what keeps the exchange open.
What to buy instead
If you sleep cool and want memory foam on a bed you can turn, buy this one. If you run hot, or you roll about all night, the Bodyshape Boost 1000 Pocket at the same shop is your bed: the same springs and turnable build under a fibre top that sleeps cooler and lets you move. Anyone heavier, or after a firm bed they can turn, should go to the Bodyshape Cooler 2000 Pocket, with twice the springs under a Firm grade and the same flip.
