Gas Fire cut off - what would you do?

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Our house was built around 1895, so clearly used to have chimneys and open fires, however, it was owned during the 1980s by some kind of dodgy builder who part converted it into flats / bedsits, and when he put it back, has cobbled together all sorts of strange arrangements. When we bought it, the previous occupiers (who bought off the dodgy builder - are you still with me ?) told us they'd wanted to put in a real fireplace, but had had several gas men, builders, chimney sweeps to look and no-one could fathom out how to open up the chimney again, so they abandoned the idea and put in a new gas fire.
We've been living here no problem for several years, occasionally using the gas fire when the central heating isn't on. Thought I should have it serviced, and that's when problem came to light.
Apparently, because it is 'flu-less' then it has a catalytic converter to make all the fumes safe, and ought to have an air vent to take fumes outside. It doesn't have an airvent. The gas people have turned the gas off and told me my choices are :

1. get an air vent put in (they said they wouldn't recommend, as then you have a draft from this open vent which rather negates the point of having the fire on)
2. Take the fire out altogether and have an electric one put in. My understanding, historically has been that electric fires are expensive and look horrible, but they say you can get them that look just like my current gas one, it's not all single bars a la 'Rising Damp' any more.
3. Take the gas fire out and just leave it as some kind of "aesthetic feature" and stick a small portable heater on if ever we need to

What can you wise MNers tell me / advise me ?

(Sorry bit long)

We were told we had to have an air vent and persuaded them to put it in the wooden floor rather than to outside as we have 5 foot of space then earth and lots of air bricks under our floor - any chance that's an option for you?

Also you could have the vent put in and just cover it when the fire is not in use?

Or no vent but a carbon monoxide detector in the same room? That would be the cheapest option.

If you have a flueless gas fire you are breathing in the fumes it makes. If the cat. is working properly it will mostly be CO2 and steam.

Lots of gas fitters won't touch them as they consider them unhealthy and dangerous. It's just an ornament really.

Given enough money, you could have a new chimney, if necessary built onto the outside of the house. As an architect said to me about rebuilding a chimney, you can build a new house, and you can knock down an old one. Adding a chimney is easier than either.

Laurie - he did wonder about the floor, as it is floorboards, but it is carpeted (and was carpeted when we bought - we've changed the carpet but I didn't notice any vents - wasn't looking of course - but then the carpet fitter didn't mention anything either). If there is a vent there, then won't cutting the carpet leave the same problem with drafts ? He also said if it did go under the floorboards, then he should be able to see the vent on the outside of the house, which he couldn't.
PigletJohn - I was hoping you would be about . tbh, that's what the men said to me.... they wouldn't have one in their homes.... which makes me think that other options have got to be better. The living room wall where the chimney is, is the one that's semi-detatched to our neighbours. They aren't attached on the ground floor (there's a passageway through to the back) but the first and second floors are, so I can't see that building, or rebuilding a chimney is going to be an option - financially or hassle wise.

Anybody know anything about the electric fire option ?
Or shall we just remove the fire altogether and stick a candle or a vase of twigs there ?

We had a similar issue, but with an incorrectly flued fire that fortunately we had never used. We got a quote over £2000 just to make a fire possible. In the end we bricked it up so that no one would ever use a fire there. I have a lovely picture that cost less than a fire would have.

If the wall in the living room isn't attached, couldn't you just put a flue straight out into the passage? Surely it doesn't have to go all the way up the house? I am not speaking from experience here, just surmising!

Yep - there are: they are called Direct Vent Fires.

If you rarely use it, but want something there as a focal point, I'd get an electric fire. There are plenty around which look enough like gas fires that you'd have to look fairly closely to notice the difference.

We did this, after our gas fire was also condemned - when we had it serviced, the guy noticed that it was also connected somehow to next door's - it was a semi, and the fires were back-to-back, we were both new owners and the guy who had owned our house previously should have been barred from ever touching anything DIY-related, as we were to repeatedly discover.

Anyway, because we rarely use the fire, but the room looked odd without one, we went for electric and the cost to run it didn't really come into it - I think we had it on about half a dozen times over about 3 years before we moved.

We've got a flue less one and have had no problems with it. We had two air bricks put in, we don't really notice the draft at all.
We also have a carbon monoxide alarm just to be on the safe side.

Having a chimney breast put back in is very £££.

Thanks everyone.
I wondered that caurnieBred, but I presume there must be some reason why it can't go out into the passageway, or either the people the previous owners asked, or the chaps who came to service my fire would have suggested that ? Thing being, I didn't ask the question directly, and wish I had, so that's why I was hoping there might be someone knowledgable on here as there always has been for every other question I've ever, ever asked
RedBlanket I assumed the new chimney would just not be a realistic prospect - wasn't even really considering it. Interesting about you not noticing the draft from the air vents. Our living room isn't the warmest - indeed, I've just had some curtains made to order to try to make the room a bit warmer as it's cold when you sit by the (double glazed) window. I was going on what the guys said who came to do the service, and, in a way, they were talking themselves out of potential work by talking me out of a gas fire, so they weren't gaining anything by saying that.
WhatMakes Thanks for that - yes, the chimney breast / fireplace are quite a feature of the room, which is why I would quite like a fire there, even though we have central heating, and many a night don't even sit in the lounge, so it probably goes on for an hour, a dozen times a year.

Oh: should have said that our house has (or had) a gas fire that required a vent. Our vent was in the floor and DH ended up having to cover it up as the draught that came from it was horrendous: we once had an full house with people sleeping in the living room on a mattress on the floor and they were freezing. We never really used the fire anyway, therefore we had it disconnected so it is now just an ornament!

I wouldn't use a flue less fire and the gas fitting company where I was working would not fit them, I would put an electric fire in for effect, you dont have to use the heat setting, my fave electric fire's are dimplex optimyst, if ever I save enough that it what I would buy.

Thanks cuppa.
That's what I want to know really.