Is Nectar’s Premier Hybrid Mattress really worth the £1k price tag?

If I’m truly honest with you, reader, I did not want Nectar's Premier Hybrid Mattress anywhere near my home just a few months ago. I mean no offence to its eight layers of precision-engineered comfort or carbon-neutral construction, it’s just that replacing my old mattress would have meant defeat in one of my longest-running (and most petty marital) spats. And a better night’s sleep was more than worth sacrificing at the altar of moral superiority.

Had my former mattress grown a few lumps and bumps over the course of its seven-year existence? Sure. Could I be entirely sure that weird stain was spilt coffee instead of slow-creeping mould? Possibly not. Was it still basically fine to sleep on for the foreseeable future? You’re damn right. Like any warlord staring down the barrel of a long and draining defeat, what I needed was a way out. A means of retreating with some semblance of dignity intact. Sure, we were about to replace our aged slab of springs with one of the supposed best mattresses around, but this was a test… for work. Who could possibly argue with such noble intentions?

If you’re waiting for a twist here where the Nectar Premier Hybrid turns out to be less than it’s hyped up to be, then I regret to inform you otherwise. At £1,000 for a king, you would expect this thing to deliver serenity in slumber and so it does. Even if you can also get a hold of it for much, much less than that precipitous RRP with a bit of shopping around. Still, having slept on this Nectar for a good few months now, I have been asked to give a mea culpa of sorts and explain why the mattress is worth investing in, even by such pigheaded sorts as myself.

A major mattress upgrade

Aside from simply not being a potential health and safety violation, there were a couple of essentials I needed from any new mattress. As a restless sleeper who is married to someone who will happily binge You season four until 3am, I didn’t want my hard-earned shuteye to be interrupted by their nocturnal viewing habits. Although the Nectar Premier Hybrid does feature an eight-layer design – including those for micro-springs, pressure-relieving memory foam and a quilted cooling cover – it’s also a remarkably solid creation that does a lot to minimise motion transfer. That means you can sink into its medium-firm charms without worrying about someone slinking their way into bed in the wee hours.

This same design also does a lot to aid airflow and cooling if your partner likes to pile on as many blankets as humanly as possible in the winter months. Given its hefty 28cm depth, you might need to invest in a few new bed sheets if your existing bedding has shrunk a tad in the wash. The upside of this comparatively tall build – including 4cm of memory foam – is you really do get that luxe sinking feeling when you nestle down into this Nectar for the night. A lot of mattress reviews will talk about a ‘hotel quality’ sleep, but you’ll have to be staying at a seriously five-star affair to outdo the Premier Hybrid. In fact, there are a few trips I’ve made of late where the best part of getting home has been knowing I’ll be back in the utmost comfort.

Aside from the actual experience of sleeping on a new mattress, another major feature I was looking for from any upgrade was avoiding too much in the way of waste. To that end, Nectar’s eco credentials are surprisingly good. The Premier Hybrid is built to last with foam that’s free from harmful dyes and chemicals and so comes with a ‘forever warranty’ so long as you want to sleep with it for. It’s also a certified carbon-neutral product with the emissions associated with its manufacturing process having been either economised or offset. Unless you’re going to spend serious money on the Simba Go Hybrid, which is essentially the Tesla Model S of mattresses with its fully recyclable and organic build, then this is about as sustainable as it gets for sleepware right now.

Nectar Premier Hybrid Mattress initial verdict

As much as I’d desperately like to pretend otherwise, the best thing I can say about Nectar’s Premier Hybrid Mattress is that it was worth swallowing my pride to get a hold of. It’s a big, beast of a mattress in more ways than one, but uses this sheer clout to deliver an easy night’s rest for even the most skittish of sleepers. Something that’s further aided by an admirable focus on sustainability, as well as luxury. Taking the ‘L’ in all domestic kerfuffles isn’t always this fulfilling, but if you happen to find yourself in a similar conflict I’d recommend waiving the white flag of surrender immediately.

One year later, is it still holding up?

I’m not sure whether this is a reflection on the quality of most sleep-related writing or the folly of regaling a marital spat in public, but I didn’t expect this Nectar Premier Hybrid Mattress review to feature quite so prominently in my life over the year or so. As it turns out, people really want to know whether its eight layers of comfort have bestowed domestic bliss on my personal life and my editor has asked that I oblige them.

So am I still smitten by the Nectar? Very much so. To the extent that the tables in this particular bedtime story have now well and truly turned. I’ve gone from being ambivalent about the quality of my mattress to its last true defender. So absorbed am I in the importance of retaining its sense of support and overall hygiene that the mere sight of a stray umbrella, dumbbell or pair of scissors (!?!) sitting on my side of the bed will exert a Defcon 1 level sigh and eye roll. To this day, I can stroll into bed at midnight and wake up seven hours later having slept like a log. For now, the only thing that can interrupt my slumber is my dog’s precarious digestive system and its endless hunger for rotten street food.

The Premier Hybrid Mattress’ blend of micro springs, memory foam and cooling quilting is to be protected at all costs. It remains an island of serenity in the chaos of my bedroom and I have never been happier to benamed-day a total hypocrite.

The Nectar Premier Hybrid Mattress is available from £620 at nectarsleep.co.uk

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