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Edinburgh

Fountainbridge

Neighbourhood · 4,519 residents

Affordability: no dataSafety: 58/100Transport: 31/100Schools: no dataHealth: 71/100Food & drink: 95/100Environment: 51/100Infrastructure: 62/100Property market: 76/100
66Good

Good · better than 9 in 10 suburbs

Check Local Score out of 100 · 60 is typical for the country

Each arc is a topic, coloured by its score

What’s good

  • 18 places to eat and drink
  • Property market scores 76, well above the typical 60
  • 6 GP practices within a short walk

Check before you view

  • Radon: part of the area is in an affected zone, and a home test is cheap
  • Road noise reaches 57% of the area
  • Transport scores 31, below the typical 60
Read the full summary ↓

The essentials

Everyday life

The area

Around Fountainbridge

Bruntsfield63West End59Dalry60Merchiston58Tollcross63Churchhill62North Merchiston60Comely Bank65
About Fountainbridge ↓

Map outline: Neighbourhood boundary drawn by OpenStreetMap contributors

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Is Fountainbridge a good place to live?

Fountainbridge scores 66/100 overall, which the scorecard rates as good — 60 is typical for the country.

It stands out for food & drink (95) and property market (76).

It scores lowest on transport (31).

Scores come from official data on safety, schools, transport, prices, health, food & drink and the local environment, for Fountainbridge in Scotland, each measured against the national average.

Summary of Fountainbridge›

Fountainbridge reads as flats and converted mills, young professionals wheeling bikes out of tenement closes, and a run of bars and restaurants that keeps the streets busy well past the shops shutting. It's dense in a way that catches you off guard if you're used to suburbs proper — this is inner-city Edinburgh living, close to the Union Canal and the old brewery sites that have been turned into flats, offices and gyms rather than gardens.

The population here skews young, with a median age in the late twenties, which tells you most of what you need to know about who's renting and buying: people early in their careers, often without children yet, drawn by the walk into town rather than a school catchment. That's just as well, because the area itself has only a single school within its boundary — anyone with kids is likely looking further afield for options, and this is worth sitting with before you commit if a family is part of the plan. Housing here is dominated by flats, and the market has been drifting upward gently rather than sharply, the kind of steady improving trend that suggests a settled but not overheated corner of the city. A median house price a little under £300,000 sits comfortably within reach for the area, and against a Scotland-wide median council tax band D figure of £1,392, Fountainbridge's £1,240 makes it a touch cheaper to run a home here than the national picture would suggest.

The green space is modest — a handful of pockets adding up to a few hectares rather than anything sprawling — so this isn't an area for people who want a big park on the doorstep; the canal towpath does the job of a breathing space instead, a place to walk or run rather than linger. What Fountainbridge does instead is feed you: the nightlife grade here is as high as they come, and it shows on the ground in the density of restaurants and bars rather than in green lawns. That trade-off — nightlife over nature — is the clearest signal in the data about how people actually spend their evenings and weekends here.

The one grade that jars against the rest is health, sitting well below the area's otherwise solid marks in connectivity, housing and safety. It doesn't erase the broader pattern — this is a well-connected, reasonably safe, above-average-for-Scotland part of Edinburgh on most counts — but it's worth registering alongside the worsening safety trend noted for the area, a gentle counter-current to an otherwise improving picture. None of this looks alarming set against the numbers on offer, but it's the kind of detail that separates a place that photographs well from one you'd actually want to test for yourself. Fountainbridge suits people who want to live inside the city's rhythm — flat living, nightlife on tap, decent broadband and short commutes — more than those chasing gardens, school catchments or a quiet pace of life.

Data last updated: 19 October 2026

Places in and around Fountainbridge›

Schools

6 places
  1. 1Boroughmuir High SchoolSecondary
  2. 2St Thomas Of Aquin's High SchoolSecondary
  3. 3Tynecastle High SchoolSecondary
  4. 4Bruntsfield Primary SchoolPrimary
  5. 5Dalry Primary SchoolPrimary
  6. 6Tollcross Primary SchoolPrimary

Health

6 places
  1. 1Gilmore Medical PracticeGP practice · 12,627 patients
  2. 2Bruntsfield Medical PracticeGP practice · 12,159 patients
  3. 3West End Medical PracticeGP practice · 11,608 patients
  4. 4Af Pharma LtdPharmacy
  5. 5Apple Healthcare Edinburgh LtdPharmacy
  6. 6Earl Grey Dental PracticeDentist

Food & drink

6 places
  1. 1Tesco Bruntsfield ExpressTesco · supermarket
  2. 2M&S Haymarket SFMarks and Spencer · convenience store
  3. 3Sainsburys Edinburgh Lothian Road LocalSainsburys · convenience store
  4. 4Co-op Scotmid PolwarthScottish Midland Co-operative · convenience store
  5. 5Tesco Princes St ExpressTesco · convenience store
  6. 6Co-op Edinburgh - Earl Grey StreetThe Co-operative Group · convenience store

Environment

6 places
  1. 1Bruntsfield LinksPublic park · 14 ha
  2. 2West Meadow ParkPublic park · 11 ha
  3. 3West Princes Street GardensPublic park · 10 ha
  4. 4Harrison ParkPublic park · 6.8 ha
  5. 5Moray Place Bank GardensPublic park · 2.0 ha
  6. 6Dalry Community ParkPublic park · 1.2 ha
Explore around Fountainbridge›

Areas near Fountainbridge

  • Bruntsfield
  • West End
  • Dalry
  • Merchiston
  • Tollcross
  • Churchhill
  • North Merchiston
  • Comely Bank

Postcodes in Fountainbridge

  • EH3
  • EH11
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