Anyone know of any loft ladders that may work, or any other solutions ?
all of the ladders I've seen require much larger loft hatches, and more
forward clearance to push the ladder up onto (even the ones with
adjustable pivot points).

Is there height enough above the hatch for the ladder to retract vertically
up against the chimney breast? I can't help you with suppliers, but I have
seen a ladder which retracts thusly several years ago. It looked like a
professional contraption, rather than a Heath Robinson affair. It basically
slid vertically up and down and would pivot forwards and backwards on its
lower bracket once it had gone down far enough.

Christian.

Here's some ASCII art of what I remember. I can't remember the details of
how the two piece sliding ladder was handled by the brackets. I also can't
remember how it was latched up in place. To withdraw it, you opened the
hatch, pulled the ladder down until it clicked and then extended the lower
section, whilst angling it forwards.

UP

** ||
**##|- fixed sliding bracket to hold ladder still when retracted
**##|
** ||
** ||
** ||
**##| - bracket grips side of ladder and can rotate
**##|
******+ +***
******+------------+*** - conventional loft hatch

DOWN

**##
**##
**
**
**
**##
**##
******+\\ +***
******+ \\ +***
| \\
| \\
| \\
| \\
| \\
\\
\\
\\