Fire Pits UK

A fire pit or fire table is a freestanding garden fire feature that radiates heat in every direction, which makes it the right choice when seating wraps around the fire rather than facing it from one side. A fire table adds a usable surface at coffee, dining or bar height, so the fire earns its floor space twice over. Fireside Boutique stocks 93 of them across wood burning, gas and bioethanol, in corten steel, stainless steel, lacquered and black steel, aluminium and cast concrete, from £95 to £12,500. Free UK mainland delivery on every order.

Read the full fire pit and fire table buying guide

Fire pit or fire table?

A fire pit is a bowl or basket at ankle to knee height. You gather round it, and everyone looks down into the flame. A fire table puts the burner into a solid top at seat height, so people put drinks down, eat, and keep talking across it. Fire pits suit an informal circle on grass or gravel. Fire tables suit a paved terrace with fixed seating, and they are the better answer if the fire has to double as furniture.

Which fuel suits your garden?

Wood burning gives the highest heat output, the crackle and the woodsmoke scent, and costs nothing to run beyond the logs. It also produces smoke that follows the wind, and ash to clear afterwards. Gas lights on a button, produces no smoke or ash, and stops the moment you want it to, which is why gas dominates the fire table range. Bioethanol sits between the two: a real flame with no smoke or flue, refuelled by hand from a bottle.

Materials and how they age

Corten steel weathers to a stable rust-coloured patina that protects the steel beneath, and will stain paving underneath while that patina forms. Stainless steel keeps its finish with almost no attention. Powder-coated and lacquered steel hold their colour, but a chip left untreated will corrode from that point. Cast concrete and aluminium tops are the usual finish on gas fire tables, and both need covering over winter.

Sizing it for the space

Allow a metre of clear space around a fire pit for people and chairs, and remember that radiant heat drops away sharply with distance. A 60cm bowl warms a close circle of four. A 100cm bowl or a full dining-height fire table is what you want if six or more people are regularly sitting round it.

Honest trade-offs

Gas fire tables are the heaviest items in this range and the hardest to reposition once sited, and a 13kg cylinder has to live somewhere, usually in the base. Wood burning fire pits are cheaper to buy and to run, but the smoke is a genuine consideration on a small plot with close neighbours. Bioethanol is the least demanding to install and the most expensive to run.

Also worth seeing

For flame with no smoke or ash at all, see bioethanol and gas fire pits. If the fire is going inside the house, see indoor fire pits and tables. For a flued unit that pushes heat one way and lifts smoke clear, see outdoor fireplaces and chimineas.