A POST Office run by the same family for generations looks set to move for the third time in eight years.

Jason and Ellen Curtis and their three children had to flee their burning home and post office in Clacton Road, Elmstead Market, in 2007.

The branch was moved to FV Conservatories & Windows in Colchester Road.

Now there are plans for it to move again – just 138 metres up the road to the village’s Spar store.

The new modernised Post Office Local will have longer opening hours. It will have an open-plan till at the shop counter during shop opening hours, instead of a separate screened counter.

Ellen Curtis, who will continue to run the branch with husband Jason, said: “The loss of our home was traumatic, but we came through it with the support of the village.

“At the new branch the hours will be longer. We will be open extra days and that will make the community in Elmstead Market a brighter and happier place.”

The couple took over the village’s post office from her parents in 2001, when it was in Clacton Road.

Should the move go ahead, the branch would open Monday to Sunday, 6.30am to 10.30pm, which would offer people an extra 66 hours of Post Office services a week, including all day Sunday and Saturday afternoon.