Just a thought for you to consider, if your house is heritage listed or in a heritage conservation area, you may be required to keep the chimney above. Best check with your council before you commit to anything else. It does look as though it is in an awkward position in the room but I'm sure a great designer could work magic with it!

I took out a similar 1950s built in. It was rendered sandstone. I did DIY BUT the chimney part stopped at the ceiling and only a single metal exhaust vent continued through the roof space to the roof with no external chimney. So was a weekend project but left a mess. I was doing the whole kitchen so the plastering and painting works were already on the cards. Do you have access to your roof to see what’s above?

Thanks for comments, the house isn't heritage listed and no chimney on the outside, also just a metal exhaust pipe on the outside.

do you have a floorplan

That’s good news. I doubt it’s load bearing but once you’ve confirmed that you could remove it without too much trouble. It’s been a while but steps I took were roughly to remove the plaster (v v v dusty), and then start at the top and chip out one block at a time and work my way down. I left the metal exhaust in situ thinking it would be short term but it’s still there 10+ years later without a problem (but a full reroof is on the cards in the next couple of years).