a good couple or 3 years ago my gas fire bust, it's a coal effect thing, basically the piezo went 1st - no biggie we just used a kitchen one to light it, but then the pilot light kept popping and spitting, the "tube" the pilot light comes out of sort of looks split as the flame seems to come from around it more than out of the end.... it's a Zenith Acclaim anyway can you buy the pilot light bit or is it a big part that needs replacing? also can you do it yourself or is it a gas registered chappie thing? here's a picture of the pilot light you can see the flame coming out of the end and the side. Edit i just got a bright light and looked, the pilot light looks like it should be like that - the hole is manufactured that way from what i can tell?
Dont mess with it that pilot may well incoperate a flame failure device and poking things in to it can alter the flame pattern so disrupting the pilot and the abilty of the pilot to keep the gas valve open and activate the flame failure device , also to replace parts you would have to interupt the gas supply , ie break open the gas connection to remove the engine , ( burner assembly ) and if its not put back correctly can have issues , also its a good time to check the flue and spillage of combustion products , have a look at the gas safe register for an engineer near to you , Dont mess for safetys sake
