Airbnb faces worldwide opposition. It plans a movement to rise up in its defence

The room-rental website, now worth $30bn, faces a critical year as city authorities clamp down

In the back room of a pub in Kentish Town, a group of middle-class Londoners are perched on velvet-covered stools, eating hummus and talking about property. On the wall, above a pile of empty beer kegs, a slide presentation is in progress. A video of Airbnb's recent advert shows smiling hosts opening their front doors and declaring their support for Sadiq Khan's post-Brexit "London is open" campaign.

The audience of Airbnb hosts are there after receiving individual invitations from the company to a "home sharers" meet-up - a concept largely unfamiliar to the slightly bemused crowd. Jonathan, an enthusiastic Californian Airbnb employee, who was recently seconded to London to set up the clubs, is happy to explain: "Homesharing clubs are simply a way of organising this into something " that has a unified voice " then actually takes actions as a collective," he says, in a less than clear answer.