Below you'll find out all about our brand history. If you want to see how Silentnight has changed over the years, why not check out our advert archive?
Tom and Joan Clarke formed our company under the name Clarke's Mattresses Limited 61 years ago in 1946 in the North Yorkshire town of Skipton.
Two years later they started producing beds from another site in Skipton, but with the beds in demand, it meant operations had to be moved to a larger site and we quickly moved to Barnoldswick in 1949.
In 1951, we changed our name from Clarke's Mattresses to Silentnight Limited and we were soon producing more than 4,000 divan beds a month.
In 1961 we moved to our current site as production continued to expand at a rapid rate.
The 1980's were a hugely exciting time for us as we looked to cement our position as the UK's number one bed brand by creating an entirely new spring system to improve the quality of our bed range and ensure we remained uniquely different to our competitors.
In 1986 we launched the 'Ultimate Spring System' - the first new spring system in the UK for over three decades. The launch also saw the birth of our brand icons, hippo & duck, in a TV advertising campaign to demonstrate the ultimate spring system's no-roll together properties.
In the late 1990's the spring system was improved and renamed the 'Miracoil® Spring System' and in 2001, a new animated advert was aired featuring the voices of Jane Horrocks and Clive Rowe and set to a specially reworked version of Hot Chocolate's 'You Sexy Thing' (I Believe In Miracoil's).
Silentnight Beds is now the UK's largest and best-loved bed manufacturer and firmly established at the cutting edge of bed technology, comfort and style. We make beds for sleeping, dreaming, napping, dozing, snoozing, and most importantly, for everyone. Recent new product developments include My First Bed, a unique creative bed for children and Mirapocket, the ultimate in lavish comfort and support.
Having led the market for over 25 years we are now reinventing the way the British public see their beds with our new Sleepetc. philosophy that showcases the bed as not just a place to sleep, but a place to live out your life.
Sleepetc. is being supported by a new TV advert that first hit the nation's screens in July 2006. Centring around a female lead having a series of happy flashbacks whilst making the bed on a bright and airy morning, the advert was a huge hit with consumers and went a long way to helping people view us as a brand that lives life to the full in the bedroom.
So whether you are after a cosy romantic hideaway that sleeps two, a place to escape from those manic Mondays, moody Tuesdays and rainy Wednesdays, or a place for your naughty rascals, brave little soldiers or fairy princesses - Silentnight Beds and our 62 years experience will have the bed for you!