Are you currently drinking? Or struggling to to stay sober because of the rational you provide here:
Originally Posted by
Sam31p 
Alcohol is that thing which allows me to walk into a busy pub on a friday/saturday evening, it reduces my symptoms hugely, stops me feeling on edge with anxiety symptoms. Then, i'm able to make small talk and engage with people.
You make it sound like alcohol is solving your social anxiety, yet in another part of your thread you wrote:
The isolation, the depression, it's killing me.
--AND--
So then there's the other side....
Dead family, isolated, unable to socialise or make friends.
Sounds to me like alcohol isn't really working. Sure, you can sit in a pub and drink, but you aren't making friends and you aren't really less isolated because your sociability is tied to drinking.
There are ways to deal with anxiety that don't rely on self-medicating with alcohol. You've haven't found those ways, but it doesn't mean they don't exist.
There's more to life than chatting it up in a pub over a beer. I hope you find it.