How many people are aware that for a brief moment in its history, Freeman Street was known as 'Straight Street'?

In the early 1860's when it was first built, many of the original properties were houses, but Freeman Street's position as a direct thoroughfare to the dock, led to many of these being converted to shops to cater for the vast increase in population in the East Marsh area of the town.

In 1879 the Street was served by horse-drawn public conveyances. By 1900 electrified trams had taken over. During the second half of 1920s the surface of the road had become very bad. 'If anything is a disgrace to a modern progressive town' said the Mayor of Grimsby at the time, Councillor L. K. Osmond, then 'it is our old Freeman Street'.

In 1926 the council decided to spend £41,000 on resurfacing the roadway and Freeman Street was severely disrupted for several months while the work was carried out. To complete the street's transformation old trams and tram lines were dispensed with and a new system of trackless trolley buses was introduced.

During World War 2 Grimsby Docks was targeted by German bombers. Freeman Street being close to the dock's took direct hit's from stray bombs.

The mid 50's saw Freeman Street in it's heyday. Grimsby was the largest fishing port in the world and Freeman Street's many pubs offered the fisherman and dock workers evening entertainment of all kinds.

With the decline of the fishing industry and the development of Freshney Place Freeman Street no longer sees the trade it used to. Many large business's and traditional shops have moved away and the number of  charity shops has increased.