End of the Road, the independent music festival held at Larmer Tree Gardens on the Dorset-Wiltshire border, is marking its 20th anniversary, having grown into one of the UK's most respected alternative music events. Co-founder Simon Taffe built the festival on the ethos of unpredictability and artist-curated line-ups, inspired by the All Tomorrow's Parties model, fostering an atmosphere in which attendees become active participants through surprise sets, art installations and spontaneous moments alongside the scheduled music.

The 2026 edition, held from 5 September, featured headline sets from CMAT and Pulp, who closed out an 18-month world tour with rare deep cuts, plus acts including Mac DeMarco, Super Furry Animals, Earl Sweatshirt & Mike and Kurt Vile. Taffe founded the festival in 2006 with Sophia Hagberg (who stepped down as director in 2015), selling his own house and borrowing a total of £160,000 to fund the first year, which drew 5,000 attendees; the festival now welcomes around 15,000 people annually and has a track record of booking future stars such as Tame Impala, Fontaines D.C. and Mitski before they broke through.