Forty-five new jobs are being created at the Huntingdon factory of Bensons for Beds following the best launch of a new mattress range in its 70 year history.

The firm, which employs around 350 people at the Huntingdon site, has already taken on 25 manufacturing staff to run an extra shift and is looking for a further 20.

Its new rolled-up mattress range – Rollo by Slumberland – has become the most successful launch it has made, with sales in the first three months far exceeding any other rolled up collection produced by the business.

Joe Wykes, chief operating officer of Bensons and responsible for manufacturing said, “Customers love our new Rollo by Slumberland range, and it’s been one of our fastest selling new products – testament to its quality and value.

“But supporting each Rollo mattress is not only the years of work by the team at Bensons, but the love care and expertise of a number of our key suppliers. Rollo is genuinely a British-made success story.”

Rollo by Slumberland is a range of four mattresses, launched in August and designed to bring market-leading levels of quality into the fast-growing roll up market. They fit into most cars and can be ordered and collected in store.

Bensons for Beds said the Rollo was a story of UK manufacturing and design heritage starting at their dedicated manufacturing site in Huntingdon where the mattresses were made.

The factory is one of the longest established mattress makers in the UK and could trace its history to the 1876, with the Huntingdon site opening in 1962. Many of the employees have an average service of more than 11 years.

The process of developing the new range – building on years of work that have gone into earlier products – began in March, just as lockdown hit, and teams from across the business collaborated closely to incorporate the latest technology and design features.

Bensons said the production of Rollo by Slumberland was the result of long-standing relationships between the firm and key suppliers, British companies and mainly British-made raw materials and components.

In a major breakthrough for the industry, all the Rollo mattresses are wrapped in greener polythene packaging made from 60 per cent recycled polythene and 40 per cent processed sugarcane ethanol.

For every Rollo Mattress sold, £10 will be donated to our charity partner, Mind.