Gas fire v Open fire

macman

You are completely missing the point. To produce a kWh of heat from any source you need to burn fuel, be it gas or coal. For each source or device, the heat is released at a different rate. The fact that a coal fire stays hot 'longer' (it doesn't, it's just slower) doesn't mean that it's producing any more heat per pound spent on fuel. A kWh of energy is a kWh, whether it's released over 1 hour or10 hours.
And you neglect the point that, from ignition, a coal fire produces very little heat for the first 20 minutes or so, unlike a fan heater, panel heater or a gas boiler.
A coal fire may well 'feel' warmer, but it's not producing any more heat, and it's not economic to burn coal in an open grate.

hubb

Again, you miss my point. We burn very little coal on the fire resulting in not having to buy as frequently but the room is still warm enough. Many people are turning back To coal fires more and more so it can't be that bad. Also, getting logs for free is def cheaper than GCH. Gas is going up 10% as it is ridiculously expensive.

macman

Who mentioned free logs?-that's another discussion entirely.
It's you that is missing the point. What you are actually doing is producing less heat (though you may still feel warm in the one room being heated by coal). Less heat obviously means less cost. You don't seem to be able to grasp the point that for the same heat output, gas is cheaper.