Fountainbridge is a relatively central area, West of Lothian Road, South of Haymarket, and North of Bruntsfield. With its central location, skirting the modern commercial hub of the Exchange and city centre, the area is undergoing a rapid change from traditional working class tenements and industry, to modern housing developments. Fountainbridge road remains a busy throughfare for car traffic although a minority of the residents drive to work.
The Eastern end of the Union Canal begins here at Edinburgh Quay. The canal fell into disuse for many years, but has been tastefully renovated in recent years. Floating homes, rowing teams, tourist boats, and pleasure barges, can be found on the canal and there is frequently a steady flow of cycling and pedestrian traffic along the side in the Summer. A half-hour bike trip along the Union canal takes you to Edinburgh's outer limits (the city bypass). The canal continues for 32 miles as far as the Falkirk Wheel.
The McEwans brewery opened in Fountainbridge in 1856. The brewery continued to expand production to a level where it was producing two million barrels of beer a year, much of it for overseas export as well as domestic quaffing. The brewery ceased production in mid-2005 and moved operations to the Caledonian Brewery in Dalry, with the area being turned into the Edinburgh Quay.
Sean Connery was born in Fountainbridge and named his production company, Fountainbridge Films, after the area.