There are no uniform or universal standards of sizes or names for bed sizes that have to be used: the terms that are used are descriptive and there is no guarantee that the term King for example will be applied to exactly the same size product. This scenario has got worse in recent years with the advent of metric sizing running in parallel with imperial sizing and with more imported product especially in bedframes, coming on to the market.

The NBF conducted an exercise a few years back to ascertain common practice among its members and circulated the results to encourage some consistency. However there are no regulations or standards which impose the use of certain names for certain specific sizes. NBF members tend to be predominantly mattress manufacturers - bedframes are coming from huge numbers of different sources. One of the reasons for the increases in size options is the number of products being imported from countries where standard sizes differ from those used by mattress manufacturers in the UK.

The majority of NBF members work using the following sizes as standard

Single - 3ft x 6ft 3in Double - 4ft 6in x 6ft 3in King - 5ft x 6ft 6in Super King - 6ft x 6ft 6in

The metric equivalents of these sizes are just that - equivalents, not exact measurements

The metric sizes are:

Single - 90 x 190cm Double - 135 x 190cm King - 150 x 200cm Super King - 180 x 200cm

American sizes are:

Twin - 39" x 75" Twin Extra Long - 38" x 80" Full (double) - 54" x 75" Full extra long - 54" x 80" Queen - 60" x 80" King - 76" x 80" California King - 72" x 84" California Queen - 60" x 84"

Because the name is no guarantee of the actual size we highlight this issue in our Bed Buyers Guide and encourage buyers who are sourcing a base/frame and mattress separately to ensure the measurements of both are compatible by checking out the actual dimensions and not being guided by a descriptive name alone.