Hi, this may seem a strange question but is there specialist chimney cleaners out there. Local ones to me in Watford when contacted state they do not do canal boats. Has anyone had this problem

I do my own with a brush I got from the chandlers, brush on a long wire handle, let fire go out and cool down, shut door and stuff down chimney watch out when you pull it out as bits fly everywhere.
Then clean out the fire, making sure to remove the baffle plate bit and brush out above the back boiler if it has one, works well on the villager and the epping. (And the brush was cheapish)

I'd just add: make sure your door and vents are all closed and then brush down from outside to in, that way most of the crud ends up in the box rather than on the roof! If you slide a plastic bag over the wire handle you can pull the brush into the bag when you've finished.