I read this somewhere recently but I can't find the source but hopefully this helps. Find a club / local interest group on Meetup.com (or similar), go to this

I read this somewhere recently but I can't find the source but hopefully this helps. Find a club / local interest group on Meetup.com (or similar), go to this group and see if you like it. You can usually get a feel for how friendly a club is pretty quickly even if people don't approach you or start conversations with you. If you like the group then approach the organiser, let them know how much you like the group and offer to help in some way, most events can always use extra helpers. Exchange contact details and follow up with an email the next day as a reminder that you were serious about the offer. Here's the thing, people naturally talk to the organiser team as it's an easy conversation starter ("hey, where is this/that. What time is x" etc) You also become part of the team and included in more social things like visits to the bar or other stuff. Of course you also meet people with a common interest and other people that are interested in socialising. Clubs & bars are usually not good places to meet new people as most people go there with friends so are not interested in meeting other people.