Tonight the Financial Times held its annual summer party in London. Hosted by editor Lionel Barber, the event saw 350 VIPs from business, finance, politics and luxury gather at the newly opened Banking Hall in the heart of the City.

Guests experienced an evening themed ‘Summer Inside’, with drinks and canapes under tall sycamore trees lining the venue’s marble pillars. The trees from the evening will be planted at Naomi House Hospice for children and young adults. Readers with subscriptions to the FT for 10 or more years were also invited.

A floral installation by London-based artist Rebecca Louise Law was made up of 4,120 flowers, including roses, peonies, larkspur, alstroemerias and bouvardia, exploring the relationship between humans and nature.

Guests were served the “Pink ‘Un” cocktail, created by FT’s House & Home editor Jane Owen, and walked home with goody bags including an Aspinal leather wallet, Moët and Chandon champagne, a signed copy of FT’s Tim Harford’s latest book ‘The Undercover Economist Strikes Back’, a FT Moleskin book and Friends of the Earth’s Bee Saver Kit.

In his welcome speech Lionel Barber spoke about the changing nature of media and journalism. He said: “At the FT we are dealing with wrenching change but we have the highest circulation in our history and our print circulation is profitable before advertising.”

Guests included HRH Prince Andrew, the Duke of York; Shami Chakrabarti, director, Liberty; Mike Coupe, incoming CEO, J Sainsbury; Andrew Marr, BBC presenter; Rachel Johnson, Sunday Times; Ed Miliband, leader of the Labour Party; Kathryn Parsons, founder, Decoded; Alan Yentob, creative director, BBC; Emily Maitlis, BBC presenter; Sir Martin Sorrell, CEO of WPP; Lynda Gratton, Professor at London Business School, Alastair Campbell and economist Dambisa Moyo.

See images from the party here.