The street is largely residential, mainly 19th century tenements and 20th century flats, with a few shops, cafes and offices. The
University of Edinburgh owns property in the area, including The Pleasance venue and the adjacent Pleasance Sports Complex. Part of this was formerly the site of Bell's Brewery, part of Edinburgh United Breweries. Between 1926 and 1933,
duty was only paid on part of the beer production at the facility, in an effort to save money. After the fraud was exposed, the company went bankrupt. The Pleasance Free Church opened in 1858 at what is now 48A Pleasance, it was altered by 1893 for the
New College Missionary Society next door at 48. It was later converted to an examination hall for Edinburgh University. Also on this site, set back from the road, is the grade B listed former
Quakers Meeting House. This was built in 1791 near to a Quaker burial ground but ceased being used in 1944. It was listed in December 1974. The
Pleasance Church was located by the road on the other side of the burial ground, on the corner with Arthur Street (now New Arthur Place). Next to this at 156 is Deaconess House, formerly the
Deaconess Hospital which opened in 1894. It was converted into student flats in 2014, having latterly been used as the
NHS Lothian headquarters until 2010. Although not listed, the original
façade on the Pleasance was retained and restored. The University of Edinburgh also owns a large new [2017] student flats complex on St Leonard's Street, the southerly extension of the Pleasance, on a site formerly occupied by a Homebase home improvements and gardening store. In addition, although the Pleasance along with St Leonard's Street is a quieter area than the nearby main commercial centres and streets of the Southside there are several restaurants, pubs, a few shops, lawyers' offices, churches, and the modern St Leonard's police station. After years of planning blight from the 1960s and 1970s in which redevelopment of the formerly rather run-down area was hampered after the abandonment of bizarre plans to build a major road comparable to a motorway, from the late 20th century onwards the area benefited from a gradual renaissance. ==References==