Remove it. It’s not adding anything positive to the room. Looks to me like it would be a straightforward job. Replace it with a new fireplace that you like. Of course that will incur cost but it won’t be expensive and will make a massive improvement to the whole space.

Definitely remove, the room will look much better without it!

Do you use it? If not you could do something temporary to improve it and live with it in the meantime.

This was our hideous 60s fireplace when we moved in. Having whole house renovated and not sure yet if we need the extra heating so waiting to decide that before we remove it. Did this quick makeover so I could live with it for a while in the meantime.

I painted the beige mantelpiece and hearth tiles with dark grey tile paint. I painted the blocks with watered down white chalk paint and I used tile stickers to cover the surround to update the look then we sprayed the brass details with Matt black BBQ paint. It’s been disconnected so we’re not worried about it being used. Tile stickers still look ok 3 years on.

Really depends on your budget. If you like the open fire and use it, I'd paint the tiles and decorate the mantel piece to draw the eye away. You could improve the room with new wall lights. Do you need the TV stand if you've got it mounted on the wall ?

I would remove it. There are certain design periods that didn’t last for a reason. That was definitely one of them. My first house had stone fireplace that went round a corner and had a ledge for the TV. It took some removing but the room looked so much better when it was gone!

What's the other side of the wall? How deep is it? Is the fire centred on the wall? It all looks a bit odd to me.

If you remove it, this gives you an opportunity to create a bespoke media unit in which you can hide all your cables etc in the wall, plus gives you a chance to have a more slimline fireplace/ electric fire/ biofuel fire etc. The possibilities are endless, whereas if you try to work around it, you have a large protrusion into your living space which you need to work around. If you are mid-reno, go for it (as long as you have the funds)!

I am not a fan of having the tv so high above the fireplace, bad for your neck. If you want a fire a would replace it and place the tv on the tv stand or like Tanya suggested create a focal point with media center...

Going against the grain - I like it and would keep it. It's unusual and hopefully in keeping with the age of the house. Agree the TV is too high.

I don't mind the tiles and the relationship of the fire opening with the funny shelf thing... the hearth is weirdly interesting also... a more contemporary surround, mantle and framing to the shelf thing would improve it.. and contemporary framing around the fire itself , getting rid of the Victorian fire grate! possibly raising it to a hole it the wall rather than right on the hearth. depending on the depth you may still benefit from a hood though...

ps you could change everything else to something more retro to fit in with the fireplace...

Thanks for the comments, interesting points. In regards to the tv stand, that's not staying I just hadnt got round to replacing it with a long unit to go along that wall. As for the wall lights, already due to be replaced but rather unhelpfully both live and neutral wires are the same colour and no indication as to how currently wired in so probably best to get someone in. As for the TV being too high, its quite an old tv and the way the bracket fits puts it quite high, therefore the perfect excuse to get a newer, bigger tv.

It really is awful. Just get rid of it. If the new treatment is closer to the actual size of the fireplace opening, you will have plenty of space to the left for a bigger TV. Don't hang it over the fireplace; it's really uncomfortable to watch, especially for those of us with bifocals.

Bite the bullet and go for a redo! Speaking from experience, the hardest part was trying to imagine how it would work. I feel we benefited from working around a robust structure and breathing some life into the design. Pictures of the beast before and the afterwards, just ‘cos! (Can’t wait till that carpet hits the road, not long now….;)

If you do remove it, you need to consider what to do with the flooring as it will leave a gap where it currently meets the floorboards.

Make a focal point of the "media -centre"? Media centres do not warrant being made a focal point of. A gorgeous, warm, glowing fire does. Look at what @lisafreedman71 has achieved - amazing! What a transformation and SO worth it. And one great thing about her transformation is things are off-centre too - just like your arrangement, so perhaps take some inspiration from that. Centred, equilateral and symetrical are not the be all and end all.

Just think in 50 years time that surround will be a wonderful period feature!! I ripped our equivalent out took a whole day to do it. It was built onto a heap of building rubble which I dug out. I had to add extra pieces of joist and about 10 lengths of floor board to fill the gap. The boards needed lengths of hardboard packing pieces or similar as the new ones are slightly thinner than the original imperial measurements ones. We put a gas fire and commercial fireplace in now 30 years old and this is starting to look dated itself now!!

Jeezo.. that's exactly the same coloured tiles as on our 1964 bungalow! I could not put up with it until we are in a position to do something about it so painted it the same colour as the walls and painted the hearth dark grey. I would love to get rid of it though eventually!