Tom puts the party first

The opening of City Hall - Ken Livingstone's new home - isn't the first party in the building dubbed The Big Fist: Tom Cruise got there first.

Cruise used the steel and glass GLA headquarters last month to host the premiere party for his new movie Minority Report.

Hiring London's newest buildings has become the in-thing for event organisers needing original venues. And it's not just partygoers who benefit.

The GLA's Cornelius Alexander says: "The Minority Report party highlighted City Hall as the centrepiece of the new London government. It put it into people's minds."

Simon Brown, of events company Octopus Communications, says demand for unusual buildings is growing. "People don't want to hold events in five-star hotels and conference centres any more. They want blank spaces where they can create their own environment."

Emma Jeynes, of events firm Fisher Productions, recently hired a Victorian house in Bloomsbury Square for a party, paying £20,000. "We always need new venues, especially ones caught before occupation," she says.

Battersea Power Station and the Roundhouse are proving popular venues for hiring, while Billingsgate Market was used for the launch of the movie Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone and for London Fashion Week.