Thanks for the welcome and sharing your experiences/comments.
First and foremost, I think quitting for good is the best option or at very least for now. The problem is with the context of my drinking. As i'm sure we all know, drinking 1 drink once a week in front of the tv while the football is on is a huge contrast to planning on going to the shop, experiencing anxiety symptoms and going to the pub to try and get the symptoms under control.
1 of course being someone choosing to have a drink and remaining in control, the other is having a feeling of needing to drink and opening that doorway to losing control.
So for the time being at least, i'm quitting any drinking and dealing with my anxiety problems head on. Although I think even if I do get my anxiety problems tackled, I wont want to try having another drop of alcohol as it does more harm than good regardless.
Definitely will be looking at other things here. My therapist is trying to get me into volunteering work at a few places here, but it's just a small area with limited things (nothing on meetup.com within 20 miles of this area).
Small steps though and getting out there having a coffee a few times a week I think could put some building blocks in place