Opening up a fire place / gas

[AIMD]

We have a gas fire (very old so not used) in our chimney. How do you go about turning a sealed up fire place , with a fake gas fire, back into a fireplace with a working fire. Who do I ask about checking the chimney etc and what options are there for types of fires?

With a hammer...
Disconnect gas, remove fire. Have assumed this is a freestanding monstrosity? Where the fireplace opening has been boarded up there should be a vent, you can take that off and have a peek inside but there's nothing complicated about the job but can be messy. The opening is usually either boarded or block built and easily knocked out, then you just make good. The size of the opening will possibly dictate the direction you go in next

Get a gas fitter in to cap off the gas. There’s a minimum distance they have to do so they might have to lift a floorboard. That cost us about £80.

We then got a local woodburner stove firm who also chimney sweep to check chimney, knoc’ out fireplace (harder if there’s a back boiler) and board it out and put a new hearth in. We the. Had a stove fitted but you could get a fire inserted instead. I’d recommend a stove though if you are going to light it regularly. They put our old original mantlepiece back. It cost about £1000 with a nice stove. It would have been less if we’d gone for a different hearth and cheaper stove.