How Freeman Street Market has changed over the past 10 years.

Freeman Street Market has been around for nearly 150 years so it’s fair to say it is constantly undergoing changes. Over the past 10 years some might say it had its biggest transformation yet with a 2.4-million-pound redevelopment plan that started in 2010 and ended with ‘The Business and Digital Hub’ construction in 2013.

Before the redevelopment many of the stalls were looking old and tired. It was very dull and some of the old stalls were made from poles and tables. This was great and may be nostalgic for many however it needed to be made more modern in keeping with the 21st century. The vision for the new stalls was to be bright, clean and spacious. The isles used to be very enclosed which didn’t create a pleasant shopping experience for the customers, so to improve this one of the things that was considered as part of the redevelopment was to create lots of wide isles and open spaces for events. When building the stalls, it was important that none of the businesses were to miss out on any trading hours, therefore some nights the market team and the builders worked through the night to ensure the stalls were ready for the next trading day. This was met with surprise from the traders at the dedication and hard work of all involved to get these fabulous new stalls built in such a short space of time and both traders and customers expressed how amazing they looked. The overall reaction to the redevelopment of the market was greeted with astonishment from customers, especially those who hadn’t been to the market for a long time. It quickly created a new crowd of customers and still to this day for those who haven’t visited the market in a long time it is a huge surprise and you hear plenty of comments on how much it has changed for the better.

In June 2013, the construction of ‘The Business and Digital Hub’ began. The vision for The Hub was to create a space to let out office spaces to local businesses and to be able to hold meetings and other business events. The view for the large meeting room was to tie the market in with the offices and to be able to use the space in order to benefit the community which has since hosted many events such as Christmas pantomimes, summer kids clubs, AGMs, first aid training and much more. The Hub construction began with a complete clearance of the site which included digging up the entire floor. It was finished by the end of 2013 and officially opened on the 31st January 2014. On the opening day there was a reception held in the large meeting room where potential office tenants were greeted, and the event was catered by the grimsby college catering students. The event was a huge success and the office spaces in The Hub were soon taken and have maintained almost full occupancy ever since.

In 2010 the courtyard was built. The original purpose of the courtyard was to create a space for different styles of arts and crafts, but it soon became apparent that the spaces were not going to be filled easily. It soon transformed into a fantastic little space for a lovely café with delicious homemade meals and homemade desserts as well as different craft shops and many community groups. The Courtyard has also hosted many events including Halloween shows, poetry nights, dinner parties, Christmas events and much more.

In 2019 the Food Court was built ready to host a range of different street food vendors from across Lincolnshire. The Food Courts journey started in February 2019 when Dimitrios and Emma, a couple from Grimsby, started their new business, The Greek Shack. They decided to take a stall on the market selling authentic Greek gyros which very quickly became a huge success. This drew the attention of other street food businesses who saw the market as a potential place to sell their street food. This soon escalated into more and more street food businesses applying for stalls, however, at this time the stalls were not suitable for cooking and food preparation, so the market decided to launch the food court in August 2019 and it was decided that the food court would open 5 days a week, Tuesday - Friday. This meant that there was a lot of preparation for the market to do before the launch in order to get the stalls ready and to build a brand-new seating area. There were 5 new street food businesses ready to open for the launch: Beast Burger, Joellas, Pie-o-neers, The Greek Shack and Babylous wings and things. The launch of the food court was a huge success with lots of new faces on the market coming to try the delicious food. People were pleasantly surprised with the quality of the food and the deliciousness too. Many people were quick to praise the markets efforts in bringing in something new by having lots of different foods to choose from and it was noticed how affordable the prices were too. Beast Burger have so many fantastic reviews including one from Lauren which said “Best burger we have ever tasted! Definitely ordering again but bigger next time.” Another review from Adam was left for The Greek Shack saying “1st time today and definitely won’t be the last. Best gyros/kebab ever.” And Emma left a review for Babylous to say “Best corn dogs ever! Was amazing! Staff super friendly and the milkshakes are to die for! Thank you ladies we will be back soon!”

Since the official launch there have been a few new additions to the food court, and the market are hoping to expand on the vegan and vegetarian options too.

Although Freeman Street Market has gone through many changes there is always one thing that is a constant and that is the fantastic local businesses that keep the market alive and thriving. Many traders have been on the market for a long time. Just to name a few that have been here and seen the changes over the past 10 years, this includes: Gary’s Meat, C Snow Butchers, Hunts Bakery, The Pea Bung, Hutson Bros., Tony’s Fruit World, The Pie Stall, Lovelace’s of Grimsby, Pacey’s, The Deli, Richards Keys, Kates Burger Bar, Fred’s Fisheries, Woody’s Fancy Dress. All of these fantastic businesses have been thriving for over 10 years on Freeman Street Market and have seen the changes that markets have had to go through to continue being relevant in the new modern world full of supermarkets and huge online retailers. Yet still the market continues to be a key part of the community and creates a fantastic place for small businesses to grow and flourish.