The Simmonds sits at the bottom end of Dreams' price list, and it makes no apology for it. Every big retailer keeps one properly cheap model on the shop floor; at Dreams this is it. It is the entry point to the Dreams Workshop range, a UK-made open coil mattress that took over from the old Brooke model with a smarter damask cover and kept the price at pocket money levels. Judged against mid-range mattresses it loses every category. As a way to put a decent bed in a kid's room this week, though, it makes a lot of sense.
What your money buys
A traditional open coil spring unit, a polyester comfort layer to keep you off the coils, and that damask cover, tufted to stop the fillings migrating. Medium tension. No pillow top, no clever materials. The polyester layer is there for a reason: it resists moisture and springs back into shape, and the surface stays presentable for longer than you might expect.
Where the corners were cut
You feel the open coils as a slight springiness when you change position, and movement carries across the bed more than it would through pocket springs, something to weigh up if two adults will share it nightly. Edge support is ordinary, the profile is slimmer than most modern mattresses, and there are no handles, so rotating it means gripping the sides. Some owners also found it firmer than the medium label led them to expect, though a few found it softer. None of this is unusual at the bottom of a range; it is the standard budget mattress trade, and Dreams has not pretended otherwise.
Who buys it in practice
Read through the owner reviews and a pattern jumps out: parents. Kids' rooms, teenagers' first big beds, spare rooms, first flats. For lighter bodies and part-time use the Simmonds is close to unbeatable on price, and the reviews from that crowd are glowing, with one owner who bought it for a guest bed calling it "exactly what I hoped for". The complaints, when they come, are about the springs: owners who can feel them through the top layer, a few who hear them, and one who wrote that "after having this mattress just under two years the springs have gone". Some added a topper to soften it. A few say outright it is not one for adults sleeping on it every night, which is the one job it was never specced for.
Buy it or stretch the budget?
For a child, a teenager, a guest room or a short-term fix, buy it and move on with your day. For the main bed of two adults, the maths changes: a pocket sprung model like the Tadley costs roughly double and will feel better for years longer. The Simmonds is not a false economy, it is an honest one, as long as you match it to the light duty it was built for.
How we reviewed the Dreams Workshop Simmonds Traditional Spring Mattress
Tested in store · Dreams10+ years in the mattress industry532 price checks since Jul 202357 buyer questions read15-point spec check
Drawing on over 10 years in the mattress industry, our team assessed the construction, materials and firmness of the Dreams Workshop Simmonds Traditional Spring Mattress, and our tester tried it in store at Dreams in March 2025, scoring it on 2 measures. We have checked its price 532 times since July 2023. How we review
Corrections
When we get something wrong, we fix it and say so here. All corrections
- 11 October 2026
- We said this mattress came in all popular UK sizes. It comes in small single, single, double and king.
